Showing posts with label Jehovah's Witness. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jehovah's Witness. Show all posts

10 Apr 2011

Australian starts private criminal prosecution of Watch Tower Society for refusing to submit to child protection law


Sunday Herald Sun   -  Australia       April 10, 2011

Former Jehovah's Witness taking on Watch Tower

by Graeme Hammond  |  Sunday Herald Sun


A FORMER Jehovah's Witness is to launch a private criminal prosecution against the religion's world headquarters.

His action is in protest at its refusal to require church elders to submit to Working With Children police checks in Victoria

Steven Unthank, who says he was a victim of sexual assault by a church elder in Queensland, says he is taking the drastic step to protect children within the religion and at homes where Jehovah's Witnesses doorknock.

Mr Unthank, from Toongabbie in Gippsland, says he is frustrated over inaction by police and the Justice Department after the religion decided its ministers were not required to undergo police checks.

He hopes the state will take over the prosecution after court documents are filed on April 19.

Mr Unthank, 43, quit the religion in late 2009 after waging a long campaign to persuade the Watch Tower Society, the religion's administrative arm, that elders and door-to-door preachers needed to get police checks before working with children.

Victoria's Working With Children Act requires ministers of religion who have regular unsupervised contact with children to apply for background checks and the Catholic and Anglican churches say all ministers and volunteer workers routinely apply for such checks.

Although Jehovah's Witnesses say all members become ordained ministers at baptism, a spokesman for the Watch Tower Society said elders or other evangelists were not required to gain a police clearance.

"We don't typically work with children, we don't have Sunday schools, so that law doesn't apply to us," the spokesman said.

But Mr Unthank said adult Jehovah's Witnesses often paired up with minors when preaching, with much of their time spent in cars calling on homes. Elders also mentored children and teens from religiously divided homes.

He said elders underwent no background checks before being appointed and were required only to voluntarily declare any convictions for sexual offences.

"Without police checks, how would a member of the public know it isn't a sex offender knocking on their door, talking with their kids?" he said.

Victoria Police say they investigate specific complaints about breaches of the Act, but government sources say the Watch Tower Society's stance remains "a worry".

"A lot of this is about reassurance to parents and the public, so their attitude isn't helpful," one source said.


This article was found at:
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Russion court fines Jehovah's Witness mother $170 for allowing 5 year old son to die without required blood transfusion

Death of two Russian children linked to Jehovah's Witnesses results in criminal charges and claims of state persecution

Two-year old dies after father refuses blood transfusion

Court orders blood transfusion for 10-year-old Australian boy against religious objections of his Jehovah's Witness parents

How the cruel dogma of Jehovah's Witnesses leads to needless death and divided families

 
 
Posted by Perry Bulwer at 15:51
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12 Feb 2011

Russion court fines Jehovah's Witness mother $170 for allowing 5 year old son to die without required blood transfusion

The Moscow Times  -  February 3, 2011


Jehovah's Witness Convicted


In a first, a court convicted a member of the Jehovah’s Witnesses religious sect over her refusal to sanction blood transfusion for a relative, a procedure banned by the sect’s teachings, Interfax reported Wednesday.

Natalya Podlozhevich was fined 5,000 rubles ($170) by a magistrate of the Khanty-Mansiisk region’s town of Kogalym, which found her guilty of abandoning in danger her 5-year-old son.

The unnamed boy was hospitalized last February in serious condition, the cause of which was not specified. Medics said he required blood transfusion, but his mother refused to sanction the procedure. The boy died two days later.

The ruling may set a precedent for other cases against Jehovah’s Witnesses’ members on similar charges


This article was found at:



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Posted by Perry Bulwer at 15:09
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4 Feb 2011

Jehovah's Witnesses practice of shunning reveals spiritual abuse in a religion of cruel rules


BBC News - UK January 24, 2011

Family ties cut for ex-Jehovah's Witness from Wells


A 24-year-old man has spoken of his sadness and frustration leaving the Jehovah's Witness which has resulted in him losing all contact with his family.



Nathan said he struggled to be cut off from his family


When Nathan Phillips decided to leave he was told by the elders that he would be disfellowshipped immediately.

He said: "It does make me feel very angry, not with the people so much and not with mum but the way the religion works."

The elders in Wells and his family have refused to comment about the issue.

Smoking and drinking

Nathan was disfellowshipped by the Jehovah's Witness in May 2009. Prior to this, he had stopped attending meetings for six months because he had stopped believing in the faith.

"My beliefs had changed; my views had changed - it just wasn't for me."

He had also taken up smoking and drinking.

Smoking goes against the rulings of the faith and although drinking alcohol is permitted, it is only allowed in moderation.

Each congregation of the Jehovah's Witness has a group of elders who are regarded as spiritually mature and are responsible for leading the congregation.

"I was called into a judicial committee of three elders.

"They sit in front of you like a panel and asked me questions to see if I had been smoking or drinking - basically they sent me out the room and when I came back in they said they'd decided to disfellowship me.

"Obviously I did explain to them about the impact this would have on my family but none of that was taken into consideration.

"It was a shock to begin with, and I hoped it would turn itself around, but they believe it so much I don't think it ever will."'

Upside down'

Nathan was brought up in the Jehovah's Witness faith and had been baptised at the age of 15.

After being disfellowshipped, all contact with his friends and his mother's side of the family ceased despite his efforts to stay in contact with them.

"It's turned my life upside down really. It's like losing your mum in a way because I have no contact at all.

"It affected my work and it took me quite a few months to get back on track but I've kind of got my head around the fact that's what it's going to be."

Now Nathan hopes to shed light about the religion.

"There's a lot of nice people in the witnesses, I'd never bad mouth them. Jehovah's Witnesses are very well-known for knocking on people's doors and for speaking to people out in the streets and they always come across as being very nice people.

"But what people don't realise is this part of it [disfellowshipping process] and how it goes on behind closed doors."

Wrong reasons

Nathan said he did not believe the situation would change and recently met with the elders.

"About three months ago I arranged a meeting with the judicial committee again and pleaded with them really that I was finding it very hard and thought that I could cope with it but couldn't and they said the only thing I could do was come back.

"Again I explained to them I was coming back for the wrong reasons and the only reason I wanted to come back was to be able to see my family but they said there was nothing they could do."

BBC Somerset asked his mother and family for a comment but they refused, as did the elders in Wells.

A spokesman for the Jehovah's Witness headquarters in London said Nathan's situation was a "private matter" between him and his mother.


This article was found at:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/somerset/hi/people_and_places/religion_and_ethics/newsid_9367000/9367220.stm


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Posted by Perry Bulwer at 13:14
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5 Dec 2010

15 year-old crushed by car dies after refusing blood transfusion, Jehovah's Witness elder says it was his personal choice

Daily Mail - U.K. May 18, 2010

Jehovah's Witness, 15, crushed by car dies after refusing blood transfusion because of his faith

By Fay Schlesinger


A schoolboy died after refusing a blood transfusion following a car crash because he was a Jehovah’s Witness.

Joshua McAuley, 15, suffered life-threatening injuries to his legs and abdomen after being pinned against a shop front by an out-of-control car as he went to buy sweets.

He survived the crash in Smethwick, West Midlands, and remained conscious, but lost a massive amount of blood and was airlifted to hospital for a transfusion.

But Joshua died six hours later, after he refused to consent to the operation because of his faith, church representatives said.

Under medical law, doctors are required to decide whether a child under 16 is
competent enough to consent to or refuse medical treatment without the need for parental permission or knowledge.

Sources at University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Trust suggested doctors followed this law, known as the Gillick competence test, before deciding Joshua was able to make his own decision.

It is unclear whether either of the boys’ parents were at the hospital at the time.

Last night members of his congregation described how he told doctors ‘no blood, no
blood, no blood’ after he was flown to Selly Oak Hospital, in Birmingham.

As a Jehovah’s Witness from a devout family, Joshua followed the belief that blood is sacred and transfusions are prohibited by the Bible.

Hospital staff are thought to have begged the teenager to change his mind, but he
refused.

Clive Parker, an elder at the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses where Joshua and his family worshipped, said: ‘I believe he was conscious enough after the accident and he made a stand on the blood issue. He made the choice personally.’

Joshua, who was about to start his GCSEs at the local Shireland Academy, went to
buy sweets while out preaching to residents at 11.15am on Saturday, when the accident happened, friends said.

Firemen battled to free Joshua, as others trapped inside the shop feared the building would collapse.

Paramedics gave him pain relief and emergency treatment at the roadside, before
flying him to hospital. Four other pedestrians were hurt in the crash – one seriously.

The 28-year-old male driver, from Birmingham, has been bailed pending further
inquiries, West Midlands Police said.


This article was found at:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1279252/Jehovahs-Witness-15-dies-refusing-blood-following-crash.html


RELATED ARTICLES ON THIS BLOG




Australian starts private criminal prosecution of Watch Tower Society for refusing to submit to child protection law


Russion court fines Jehovah's Witness mother $170 for allowing 5 year old son to die without required blood transfusion


Death of two Russian children linked to Jehovah's Witnesses results in criminal charges and claims of state persecution


Two-year old dies after father refuses blood transfusion


Court orders blood transfusion for 10-year-old Australian boy against religious objections of his Jehovah's Witness parents 


How the cruel dogma of Jehovah's Witnesses leads to needless death and divided families

Posted by Perry Bulwer at 14:56
33 comments Labels: , , , , ,

15 Mar 2009

Court suspended parental rights for one day to save boy's life with transfusion

Japan Today - March 15, 2009

Kyodo News - TOKYO
A court accepted on the same day a child consultation center’s request to suspend the parental rights of a couple who refused to let their son have a blood transfusion in 2008, enabling a hospital to save the 1-year-old boy’s life, according to sources close to the matter.

The couple rejected the hospital’s blood transfusion offer, citing ‘‘religious reasons.’’ Notified by the hospital, the center filed the request with the family court as it regarded the case, which took place in eastern Japan, as one of ‘‘medical neglect’‘—a form of child abuse.

Medical treatment for a child usually requires the approval of his or her parents. In the past, the suspension of parental rights took about a week for a case of medical neglect, but it is rare for a court to give a judgment on the same day it accepted the request.

The latest case is an example of how the child consultation center, the hospital and the family court cooperated in carrying forward legal procedures to realize urgent medical treatment.

According to the sources, the boy suffered symptoms of shock and was diagnosed with massive bleeding from the digestive tract due to unknown causes.

The hospital notified the child consultation center that the boy’s life was in danger, and around noon the following day the center asked the family court to suspend the couple’s parental rights as a stopgap measure until a conclusion on the matter had been reached.

The family court decided in about six or seven hours of deliberations that the child’s welfare must take precedence over the parents’ beliefs and accepted the request to suspend their parental rights.

Following the decision, the hospital treated the boy and his life was saved. The center later withdrew its request and the boy is now being raised by his parents again.
This article was found at:

http://www.japantoday.com/category/national/view/court-suspended-parental-rights-for-one-day-to-save-boys-life-with-transfusion
Posted by Perry Bulwer at 13:24
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20 Feb 2009

Johannesburg High Court saves Jehovah's Witness girl's life

The Star - South Africa February 20, 2009

By Kanina Foss

A 12-year-old Jehovah's Witness girl has received a life-saving blood transfusion that she did not want after a Johannesburg High Court order gave doctors the go-ahead.

The girl, who suffers from leukaemia, was admitted to Chris Hani-Baragwanath Hospital on Tuesday. Despite being told that a blood transfusion was needed to save her life, the girl and her parents refused to consent to the procedure.

Jehovah's Witnesses believe that it's against God's will to take other people's blood, or one's own blood that has been stored, into one's body.

The official website of Watchtower, a Jehovah's Witness organisation to which The Star was referred by the Jehovah's Witnesses of South Africa, says: "True Christians will not accept a blood transfusion. They want to live, but they will not try to save their life by breaking God's laws."

The Gauteng Department of Health said doctors consulted the girl's parents and church elders to explain the need for the transfusion. When their explanations were rejected, they brought an urgent application before the High Court on Wednesday.

The court order was issued on the same day, and the girl was given a transfusion immediately.

According to Department of Health spokesperson Phumelele Kaunda, the parents respected the court's decision.

The girl is doing well.

SA Human Rights Commission chairperson Jody Kollapen said that in such cases, the right to life took precedence over the right to religion.

He said adults were regarded as fit to make informed decisions about their own bodies, but in the case of a child, state intervention was sometimes necessary.

Jehovah's Witnesses argue that there are often alternatives to a blood transfusion, and they want to be allowed to consider other options.

They base their beliefs on biblical text such as Acts 21, verse 25: "As for the believers from among the nations, we have sent out, rendering our decision that they should keep themselves from what is sacrificed to idols as well as from blood and what is strangled and from fornication."

In November, the Pietermaritzburg High Court granted an urgent order authorising a blood transfusion for a four-day-old baby boy who was born 15 weeks premature. His Jehovah's Witness parents had refused to give their consent, despite a prognosis from the doctor involved.
This article was originally published on page 2 of The Star on February 20, 2009

This article was found at:

http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=15&art_id=vn20090220054001117C891248
Posted by Perry Bulwer at 13:28
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28 Nov 2008

Jehovah's Witness jailed for molesting boys

The Sydney Morning Herald

November 27, 2008

by Bellinda Kontominas


A member of the Jehovah's Witness church who molested three male church members after "ingratiating himself" into their families has been sentenced to more than 10 years in jail.

Robert Leslie Souter pleaded guilty to eight charges of sexual assault of the boys, who were aged between 14 and 16 at the time of the abuse, following prolonged negotiations with prosecutors.

Two of the victims were brothers whose parents had met Souter when the family first become involved with the church in 1970.

The elder brother, 14, known as CT, was first abused when he did a week of work experience with Souter, a qualified carpenter.

As CT climbed a ladder Souter followed him up, slipping his hand up the boy's shorts and rubbing his penis before climbing down and ejaculating himself.

Later when CT helped him at a carpentry job, Souter rubbed himself against the boy simulating sex and told him to think about the woman who owned the house. He then masturbated CT after telling him to put on the woman's stockings.

CT's younger brother, NT was about 10 years old when he first met Souter who would visit their home for dinner and family barbecues and go to the beach with them.

Four years later, while NT helped Souter to build a new church hall, Souter asked him, "Do you want me to show you how to become a man?" before making the boy perform sex acts.

Later, while taking the boy on a bike ride Souter said to the boy: "Let's go to the sand hills. I can show you how to make babies." He held his hand to the boy's mouth while having anal sex with him.

NT told health workers about the abuse after he experienced an anxiety attack while on a church convention in Alice Springs.

Souter was expelled from the congregation before being readmitted after he apologised to church elders.

Souter abused the the third boy, who worked for him, several times including while the boy slept as they drove home from a job.

Souter sat with his head down throughout the sentencing while his three victims, now adults, and their family and friends sat in the back of the court.

He is serving a prison sentence for the sexual assault of another brother of CT and NT, the court heard.

Judge David Freeman said the facts of this case were "distressingly similar to the case for which he is already serving time".

"That he has debauched all three sons of the one family has done extreme damage," Judge Freeman said. "The guilt of the parents for allowing a fellow member of their church to defile their sons is palpable."

Souter will serve a maximum of 10 years and six months in prison with a non-parole period of seven years and nine months.

He will be eligible for parole in 2015.

Outside court the victims said they were relieved by the sentence and that they could now begin to move on with their lives.

This article was found at:

http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/jehovahs-witness-jailed-for-molesting-boys/2008/11/27/
1227491709541.html
Posted by Perry Bulwer at 10:36
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27 Nov 2008

Child can be given blood against parents' religious objections, judge rules

Irish Times - November 27, 2008

A HIGH Court judge has directed that a Dublin hospital can, provided it is absolutely necessary, give a possible life-saving blood transfusion to a four-year-old girl despite the religious objections of her Jehovah's Witness parents.

The hospital made an emergency application to Ms Justice Mary Laffoy on Tuesday seeking an order allowing it to administer a transfusion after the parents refused to give consent.

The court heard the child was admitted to the hospital last Sunday suffering from pneumonia and an X-ray had revealed she needed to have fluid drained from her lung. It was possible the draining procedure would lead to severe loss of blood and the child would need a transfusion.

The parents, whose religion prohibits blood transfusions, had objected to any transfusion and the father had said he would go to court to stop it, it was stated.

The hospital then took its proceedings seeking permission for the transfusion.

Yesterday, the mother of the child appeared in court accompanied by two Jehovah's Witness members of a liaison committee with the hospital, which works with patients and their families in situations like this.

One of the committee members, Harry Homan, said that while the mother did not wish to address the court, she wanted it to be known that she was very happy with the hospital's treatment of her child but was objecting on deeply-held religious grounds to a transfusion.

Ms Justice Laffoy said she was satisfied she had the power to make an order directing the hospital to provide all necessary care for the child, including, if necessary, a blood transfusion but only where no other method is available and where the child requires medical intervention. "It is only if it is absolutely necessary", the judge added.

Mr Homan asked the judge if it was possible for a protocol to be issued for dealing with cases like this because they were very upsetting for those involved. The judge said she would leave that up to the hospitals and the Medical Council.

This article was found at:

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2008/1127/
1227699548565.html
Posted by Perry Bulwer at 11:33
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26 Nov 2008

Parents refuse possible transfusion for girl (4)

The Irish Times - November 26, 2008

THE JEHOVAH'S Witness parents of a 41/2-year-old girl who may need a blood transfusion are to be given the opportunity to address the High Court today after a hospital sought an order allowing it to give the child a transfusion if necessary.

The Dublin hospital made an emergency application to Ms Justice Mary Laffoy yesterday seeking the order after the parents refused to give consent for a transfusion.

The child, whose parents are from the Congo, was admitted to the hospital last Sunday after being transferred from a country hospital suffering from chest problems, fever, sharpness of breath and vomiting.

An X-ray revealed that fluid needed to be drained from her chest, a hospital doctor told the High Court. The doctor said that the procedure could involve potential loss of blood and even the possibility of bleeding to death, particularly as in this case the child's haemoglobin was low.

The girl's mother was told that a transfusion would be necessary in the case of bleeding.

The doctor told the court the mother then phoned her husband, who then spoke to the doctor telling him, "Don't transfuse under any circumstances."

The father said he would challenge it in the courts if the hospital tried to transfuse. The court heard the parents were put on notice that the hospital would be applying to the High Court for an order in relation to the child.

After hearing the procedure would not need to be carried out until today between 10am and midday, Ms Justice Laffoy said the parents should be put on notice that they could come to court before any order is made. She ordered the hospital to put the parents on formal notice of today's hearing.

This article was found at:

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2008/1126/
1227486583462.html
Posted by Perry Bulwer at 13:40
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21 Nov 2008

Jehovah's Witnesses member gets 18 months for sexually assaulting girls

The Star Phoenix - Saskatoon

November 21, 2008

by Betty Ann Adam

Almost 19 years after elders of a Jehovah's Witnesses congregation learned a member of their church had groped and fondled two adolescent girls, a Queen's Bench judge sentenced the man Friday to 18 months in jail.

"Even if the sexual assault did not include intercourse, in my opinion a sentence of imprisonment is necessary to denounce this type of crime upon children and deter others from committing similar acts," Justice Neil Gabrielson wrote in his decision handed down at Court of Queen's Bench.

The 45-year-old man pleaded guilty last month to two counts of sexual assault against the extended family members between 1987 and 1991, when they were between 12- and 15-years-old.

The man, whose name cannot be published because it might identify the complainants, was also sentenced to two years probation, during which he is not allowed to be alone with anyone younger than 18, except for his son, who is 16.

He will be added to the national sex offender registry for 20 years and his DNA profile will go into the national data bank. He is also prohibited from owning firearms for 10 years.

The two women grew up in a town of about 500 people, east of Saskatoon, and were not allowed to associate with anyone outside their religion except during school hours. They frequently spent time at the home of the older relative and his wife, who were church members in their early-20s at the time.

The victims' father told the preliminary hearing: "We trusted them, as Witness families would . . . We assumed (the girls) were in a safe environment."

During one such visit, the man took one of the girls, who was 13 or 14 years old at the time, to the couple's bedroom for a massage. He straddled the girl, who was lying face-down and naked from the waist up. The massage included his fondling her breasts repeatedly.

The man also molested the girl's sister from the time she was 12 until 15. He touched her breasts and vagina on several occasions when she was at the couple's home.

The girls were also given alcohol on some of their visits and were invited more than once to try on pieces of lingerie belonging to the man's wife, who sold it as a source of income.

After telling each other about the abuse, the two sisters informed their parents. Their father confronted the man, who did not confirm or deny what had happened, and the matter was subsequently reported to church elders.

No one reported the matter to police at the time. The victims were adults before they felt able to make their own formal complaints.

This article was found at:

http://www.canada.com/saskatoonstarphoenix/news/story.html?id=55699668-7192-45c0-bd2f-7fd57b481d07
Posted by Perry Bulwer at 14:19
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10 Nov 2008

Judge orders blood transfusion for critically ill baby

The Witness - South Africa
November 5, 2008

by Ingrid Oellermann

The Pietermaritzburg High Court granted an urgent order yesterday evening authorising pediatrician Shamila Singh to administer a life-saving blood transfusion to a four-day-old baby boy whose parents allegedly refused their consent on religious grounds as they are Jehovah’s Witnesses.

Singh said in her affidavit presented to Judge Sharmaine Balton in chambers that if the blood transfusion was not carried out within hours the baby probably would not survive.

Balton granted an interim order authorising Singh to administer a blood transfusion and any further blood transfusions necessary to preserve the life of the baby pending finalisation of the case.

“Baby Masondo” was born by emergency Caesarean section 15 weeks premature on November 1 to parents Phaphama and Bongiwe Masondo at MediClinic Hospital.

Singh said she asked the baby’s father, Phaphama Masondo, to sign a blood transfusion consent form soon after birth and explained that there was a great probability the baby would survive if transfused.

He immediately informed her he and his wife are Jehovah’s Witnesses and would not consent as it is against their religious beliefs to consent to blood transfusions.

She described to the judge the deterioration in the baby’s condition over the next few days, and said she impressed on the father that without a blood transfusion, the death of baby Masondo would be prolonged and result in him “enduring extreme suffering”.

He replied that both he and the child’s mother are nurses and aware of the consequences, but that she must not transfuse the baby as this form of treatment is against his religious beliefs. The baby’s mother “unfortunately” agreed with him, Singh said.

Singh said she has obtained advice from numerous medical experts who agreed with her assessment.

On Tuesday she warned the parents that by complying with their wishes she was “agreeing to the death of baby Masondo, which was imminent”, that withholding the blood transfusion meant she was going against the doctor’s oath she’d taken, and that it was her duty to approach the court.
They remained unwilling to agree to the transfusion.

Her affidavit was drawn up urgently by attorney Anand Pillay, yesterday and presented to the judge by advocate Sash Nankan.

This article was found at:

http://www.witness.co.za/index.php?showcontent&
global[_id]=15737
Posted by Perry Bulwer at 11:51
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27 Sept 2008

'Sadistic' Jehovah's Witness foster mother's sentence for cruelty reduced

24Dash - UK, September 26, 2008

by Jon Land

Appeal judges today cut the 14-year jail sentence imposed on a foster mother who subjected three children in her care to a "horrifying catalogue of cruel and sadistic treatment".
They said that although Eunice Spry, 64, routinely beat, abused and starved the vulnerable youngsters over a 19-year period, their injuries were not as serious as other cases where lesser sentences had been imposed.
Giving the ruling, Mr Justice Burnett said the part of the sentence which reflected the cruelty and violence should be reduced to 10 years.
Together with the two-year sentence for witness intimidation and attempting to pervert the course of justice, Spry will now serve 12 years.
The devout Jehovah's Witness was sentenced at Bristol Crown Court in March last year after a four-week trial when it was heard that she had forced sticks down the children's throats and made them eat their own vomit and rat excrement.
Mr Justice Burnett, detailing what he called a "catalogue of abuse", said as punishment for misbehaving, Spry would beat the children on the soles of their feet and force them to drink washing-up liquid and bleach.
She even confined one girl to a wheelchair for three years after a car crash in a cynical bid to maximise compensation for the accident.
Spry (pictured) staunchly denied all the claims made against her and insisted the only physical punishment she ever used was "a smack on the bottom".
But the jury convicted her of 26 charges, ranging from unlawful wounding, cruelty to a person under 16, assault occasioning actual bodily harm and witness intimidation when she threatened one of the children who was to give evidence against her.
The three victims, known as Victim A, B and C, all gave evidence describing how their daily routines were punctuated by random acts of bizarre and sadistic violence at the hands of their foster mother.
The abuse was finally discovered after another Jehovah's Witness secretly confronted one of the children about marks to her head caused when Spry rubbed sandpaper over her face.
Trial judge Simon Darwall-Smith told Spry that this was the worst case he had come across in 40 years in law.
The offences took place in two of Spry's homes in Gloucestershire between 1986 and 2005.
"All these children have suffered serious psychiatric damage because of the ordeal that they have endured," said Mr Justice Burnett.
He added: "We have found this case especially difficult to resolve.
"We consider that the sentence of 12 years on account of the cruelty in this case is out of the range which can be inferred as appropriate from previous decisions in this court.
"We are particularly mindful of the fact that in this case the physical injuries could have been much more serious than mercifully they were."
This article was found at:
http://www.24dash.com/news/Communities/2008-09-26-Sadistic-foster-mothers-sentence-for-cruelty-reduced

RELATED ARTICLES ON THIS BLOG


Australian starts private criminal prosecution of Watch Tower Society for refusing to submit to child protection law



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17 Sept 2008

"The Spanking Room – A Child's Eye View of the Jehovah's Witnesses"

Christian News Wire - September 16, 2008

A Former Member Testifies to the Dangers and Dysfunctions of the Jehovah's Witnesses

ENUMCLAW, Washington


According to the Jehovah's Witness membership statistics, active Watchtower congregants numbers around 7,000,000. Every year, close to 300,000 new members are baptized into the faith, and over 101,000 organized congregations operate under the direction of a central governing administration located in New York.

Raised in one such congregation, author William Coburn remembers his childhood years and the impact the Jehovah's Witness made on his life.

"When our church building, Kingdom Hall, was renovated, a 'Spanking Room' was added as an extra convenience for mothers. My mother kicked me, punched me, threw a vacuum cleaner at me and even knocked me out on more than one occasion."

"The Spanking Room – A Child's Eye View of the Jehovah's Witnesses" explores the inner-workings of the Kingdom Hall and chronicles a first-hand account of the physical, mental and emotional abuse among Jehovah's Witnesses. It explores how Watchtower doctrine encourages violence against its most helpless members—the children.

A former Jehovah's Witness, Coburn spent over thirteen years of his childhood and adolescence observing the consistency of dysfunction and abuse taught by the Watchtower Society.

Today, Coburn works as executive recruiter with a list of clients that includes the Pentagon. He is an accomplished public speaker and has given seminars, classes, and workshops on subjects ranging from drug awareness counseling to close-combat survival at West Point Military Academy. A Christian, husband, and father, Coburn credits his happiness and survival to God's mercy and grace.

"I'm successful. I'm happy. I have love and faith and hope in my life . . . I turned out fine. But I did not turn out this way "because" of the Watchtower Society; I turned out this way in spite of it."


Contact: Adam Cothes, Publicist, WinePress Publishing Group, 360-802-9758, adam@winepressgroup.com


This article was found at:


http://www.earnedmedia.org/wppg09161.htm
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14 Sept 2008

Former Jehovah’s Witness recalls how she broke free of the sect

The Sunday Times - UK
September 14, 2008

Best of Times, Worst of Times: Lisa Magdalena, former Jehovah’s Witness

Lisa Magdalena, 38, is a former Jehovah’s Witness whose father made legal history by being forced to have a blood transfusion. Now a trained counsellor, she recalls how she broke free of the sect

Interview by Tony Barrell.

I was two years old when my father died, in 1971. He had his wisdom teeth out and he didn’t stop bleeding, so he was rushed into hospital in Margate. Later it was diagnosed that he had a blood disorder. We were a highly influential Jehovah’s Witness family. My grandfather was a local “presiding overseer”, which meant he basically ran the show. And for Witnesses, having a blood transfusion is forbidden. You can be “disfellowshipped” for it, totally cut off from your family and the community. There was a big wrangle, and the hospital won a legal battle to give him blood against his wishes — he’d written “No blood” on a piece of paper. They gave him a transfusion, but by then it was too late and he died.
Throughout my childhood I was angry that he chose the religion over surviving for me and my elder sister, Michelle. He was considered a martyr — “Lisa, your father died for the faith”— but no one seemed to appreciate how horrendous that was for a child. From the age of six
I spent hours knocking on doors, and people would slam the door saying: “I will never listen to a Jehovah’s Witness, because of that man who refused blood and left those poor little children.”
Jehovah’s Witnesses don’t believe in heaven or hell. They believe that good Witnesses will live for ever in paradise here on Earth, as God’s chosen people. But before that comes Armageddon. As a child, I was taught that the world was going to end in 1975. My mother stored all these tins and split peas, preparing for Armageddon. Some Witnesses took out big loans they didn’t think they’d have to pay back; many didn’t go to university or have children. Most Witnesses prayed for Armageddon, but I prayed it wouldn’t come. When 1975 came and went, they said, okay, it didn’t happen, but it could still happen at any moment.

As a teenager I had all these questions about the faith, and I was pounced on as if the Devil was getting into me. We weren’t allowed to partake of blood, so I asked why we weren’t vegetarians, because when you put a steak in the pan, blood runs out. I got into big trouble. There was also abuse in our house. A male Witness abused me and my family from the time I was four till I was 14. The elders disfellowshipped him, but that just meant they couldn’t do anything about him. Eventually I knew I couldn’t be a Witness any longer. But there’s no honourable way to leave this religion: you’re told that if you leave, it means eternal death. I couldn’t just say: “Look, Mum, I don’t want to be a Witness any more.” I knew I’d have to leave home.
And there’s an extra abusive twist. Witnesses believe that when paradise comes, there’ll be an earthly resurrection of good Witnesses. So my father would be resurrected in bodily form. And I was told that if I left, my mother and sister would have to explain to him why I wasn’t there: that Lisa hadn’t loved him or Jehovah enough. How hurtful is that?
I was 16 when I ran out of the house.
I remember the cold air as I ran and ran, my heart pounding. I didn’t know anyone I could go to: I’d been taught never to mix with outsiders — Satan-lovers. For three weeks I was on the streets, and I was heading for London when I was found by my guardian angel. It was a man whose wife was a Witness, but he’d chosen not to be. He was driving along the A299 when he saw this distraught kid and recognised me. He knew about the abuse. He said he could see all I needed was a roof over my head and I’d find work and live my own life. It was the first time I ever felt protected.
He took me to my grandfather and gave him a very strong talking-to, saying I wasn’t coming back to the religion. Very temporarily, I lived in my grandfather’s house. I borrowed my nan’s suit, and I called on every bit of anger and confidence I had and walked into Marks & Spencer’s in Margate and asked if they had a job. Well, it so happens… I started work in the food department and found a flat. I started going to parties, which I had never been allowed to do. I’d be on the tills at M&S and catch myself humming a “kingdom melody” — a Witness hymn — and think “Aaargh!” and replace it with Like a Virgin, by Madonna. I celebrated Christmas for the first time at 17, and I felt like a one-year-old. Santa never came to me as a child, but he’s very generous now! I don’t believe in Jehovah, who is a judgmental, punishing God. I believe my God loves me very much and wants me to grow and be happy. And I’m happier than I’ve ever been. I’ve written a book based on my life called Tell the Truth.
It’s taken me years to respect my father’s choice not to take blood, but I do. And I respect people’s choice to be Jehovah’s Witnesses — if they’re happy, good on them. But I know there are many who feel trapped. I’m not on a mission to get people out, but as a counsellor I’m here to help anyone who wants to escape from control and manipulation.
This article was found at:
http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/the_way_we_live/article4723924.ece
Posted by Perry Bulwer at 12:15
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9 Jul 2008

Court saves baby's life after Jehovah's Witnesses parents refuse transfusion

News24 - South Africa
July 9, 2008

by Norman Silke | Die Burger


Port Elizabeth - Strict religious beliefs nearly claimed the life of a 14-day-old baby at the weekend.

The Legal Aid Board and Port Elizabeth High Court had to intervene on Friday night to save the life of a baby boy.

Dave McGlew of the Legal Aid Board in Port Elizabeth said the baby was born 10 weeks premature on June 23.

He had to have an urgent blood transfusion, but the religious beliefs of his parents, who are Jehovah's Witnesses, did not allow it.

Jehovah's Witnesses keep strictly to the Bible's decree that no form of blood may be eaten. They believe this is applicable also to the storage and transfusion of blood.

McGlew said Netcare Greenacres Hospital, where the baby was being treated, asked for legal aid and the case eventually ended up at the Legal Aid Board.

Court ordered transfusion

According to a statement, advocate Lilla Crouse of the Legal Aid Board had to act quickly to ensure that a judge, a registrar and a stenographer reported to the court at 18:00 to hear an urgent application and a paediatrician was asked to testify.

The court ordered at 19:00 that a blood transfusion should be done.

Parents are required to give permission for a blood transfusion for a minor. McGlew said the High Court, as supreme guardian of all minors, could give consent for a blood transfusion.

He emphasised that the parents did not oppose the application, but could not give consent themselves.

Crouse said: "My heart went out to the child's parents. The couple must've known that, with their decision, they were signing their child's death certificate."

Crouse's statement said that the paediatrician had explained that, without a blood transfusion, the child would have died on Friday night or Saturday morning.

The judge apparently went to a lot of trouble to explain to the parents, whose names were not allowed be publicised, why he ordered the blood transfusion.

'Some people die because of this belief'

Juvenal Coelho, an elder at the Jehovah's Witnesses church in South End, Port Elizabeth, quoted various passages from the Bible that forbade the eating of blood in any form.

According to him, this included the intake of blood through a person's veins.

He said: "Some people die because of this belief, but we believe in a resurrection in God's new paradise.

"What happened will not be held against the parents or the child; it wasn't their decision."

This article was found at:

http://www.news24.com/News24/South_Africa/News/0,,2-7-1442_2354217,00.html
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28 Jun 2008

Convicted molester sentenced to 45 years to life

The Press-Enterprise - California    June 27, 2008

by Tammy J. McCoy


A Murrieta man used his daughter's slumber parties to satisfy his perverted desires, a judge said Friday, then ignored calls for mercy and sentenced the 50-year-old father to a prison term of 45 years to life.

"The court has little doubt that if released he will move immediately to molest little children," Judge F. Paul Dickerson III said. "The court feels there are other victims out there who have not come forward."

Dickerson said he was compelled to impose the harshest penalty, given the pain defendant Gilbert Simental inflicted on the girls and the peril he would pose to children if released.

In April, a jury at the Southwest Justice Center in French Valley convicted Simental of molesting two sisters, then ages 9 and 10, on separate occasions in 2005 and 2006.



Frank Bellino/The Press-Enterprise
Gilbert Simental, of Murrieta, reacts Friday during his sentencing at Southwest Justice Center in French Valley.


The Press-Enterprise does not routinely publish the names of minors who are victims of sexual abuse.

Prior to sentencing, defense attorney Miles Clark and eight of Simental's friends and relatives asked the judge to be lenient with Simental, repeatedly describing him as a good man who made a bad mistake.

"Continuing to love in the face of something terrible . . . that's what is important, that we continue to love one another," Simental's 22-year-old son, Alex Simental, said. "I ask for your mercy."

Later, the father of the two victims expressed anguish and rage that his daughters were sexually violated by a family friend.

He applauded his daughters for having the strength to endure so much, including testifying before a jury of strangers about intimate facts that children should not have to discuss.

"My daughters . . . in time will recover from their ordeal," he said.

During his trial, Simental admitted that he twice molested the younger girl but he denied abusing her older sister.

Leaders of Simental's congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses contradicted his statements and testified Simental, during the course of their religious inquiry, admitted touching both girls.

Prior to the trial, the case broke new legal ground in California about when statements made to clergy members are deemed confidential, prosecutor Burke Strunsky said.

"This case makes a bold statement to any religious organization that we are not going to allow you to abuse confidentiality privileges in order to suppress the confessions of child molesters," said Strunsky. "The stakes are way too high."

Elders John Vaughn and Andrew Sinay balked at testifying against Simental, when subpoenaed by Strunsky. They cited the confidentiality afforded by the penitent-clergy privilege.

Dickerson ordered them to testify after finding the Jehovah's Witnesses' judicial committee system is not designed to keep information confidential.

As a result, the penitent-clergy privilege does not apply since state law protects statements made to clergy members who are required by their faith's practices to keep them secret.

While Simental did not make a statement on his own behalf Friday, he said he did not get a fair trial when interviewed for a pre-sentencing report filed by Deputy Probation Officer Julia Meeks.

"The jury was made up of mostly women, so there were lots of emotions," Simental told Meeks. "I'm sure as much as he (the judge) tried to be a good judge, I think he was biased."

Simental will be in court July 28 in connection with another molestation case against him involving another girl.


This article was found at:

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23 Jun 2008

Calgary dad's bid to sue Jehovah's Witness church in daughter's death blocked

Canwest News Service - June 20, 2008

by Michelle Lang

CALGARY - A Calgary man has suffered a major legal setback in his bid to sue the Jehovah's Witness church and its lawyers over the death of his daughter, who fought against blood transfusions to treat her leukemia.

On Friday, Alberta Court of Queen's Bench Justice Alan Macleod dismissed most of the claims in Lawrence Hughes' wrongful death lawsuit, which alleged the defendants gave his teenage daughter, Bethany Hughes, misinformation about her medical treatment.

The judge ruled the majority of Hughes' case, including allegations against lawyers Shane Brady and David Gnam and the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Canada, had little chance of success.

"I hope Mr. Hughes will reflect carefully on this whole thing and if he does (proceed with the case), I hope he gets a lawyer," the judge said.

Hughes, who represented himself in the proceedings, vowed to continue his legal fight. He added he is looking for a lawyer willing to take on the case.

"I'll definitely appeal," said Hughes, standing outside of court in Calgary.

"I believe Bethany didn't stand a chance. She was under tremendous pressure (not to take blood transfusions)."

Bethany died of acute myeloid leukemia in September 2002 - despite 80 blood transfusions and other treatments for her cancer.

A court order mandated the transfusions after she refused them because they were contrary to her Jehovah's Witness faith.

Bethany - who used the name Mia in the media to protect her identity - fought the protection order, claiming it was her right as a mature person to make her own medical decisions.

Bethany even tried to pull the medical tubes from her arms while bedridden at Alberta Children's Hospital.

Doctors who first determined she would die without transfusions eventually decided that she was too sick to face further chemotherapy sessions and gave up their custody of Bethany.

Hughes later launched a lawsuit against the Watch Tower society and Bethany's lawyers as well as some of the physicians involved with her care.

Among the allegations in the lawsuit, Hughes claimed the lawyers, whose major client is the Watch Tower society, were in a conflict of interest and misrepresented information about treatments for her disease.

Gnam said he was pleased the claim against him was dismissed and said he will seek costs in the case.

Arliss Hughes, Bethany's mother, released a statement Friday saying the ruling is "most appreciated."

Bethany's illness did more than claim her life - it also tore her family apart and bankrupted her father.

All members of the family had been Jehovah's Witnesses for nearly 20 years and were opposed to receiving blood products when Bethany was diagnosed with leukemia in February 2002.

But Lawrence Hughes changed his mind after discussions with doctors and fought to have his daughter receive what he believed was the best medical care.

"There is no question that Bethany's illness led Mr. Hughes to seriously question and ultimately reject the teaching of his and his family's religion, and that he paid a high price for that moral and religious decision, including the shunning by the Jehovah Witness congregation and alienation from his wife and children," Court of Queen's Bench Justice Rosemary Nation wrote in her 2003 divorce settlement decision.

"You'd think the religious belief would provide comfort to a husband and wife whose child was stricken with a life-threatening illness and guide the family throughout the crisis," said Calgary lawyer Vaughn Marshall, who assisted Lawrence Hughes in the divorce proceedings.

"But, in this case, it not only failed to do that, it destroyed the family. First, Lawrence Hughes lost his daughter, then his family."

Lawrence Hughes testified during the trial he incurred more than $200,000 in legal fees and paid $20,000 of it out of his own pocket, pushing him into bankruptcy.

This article was found at:

http://www.canada.com/topics/news/national/story.html?id=670174aa-de0c-4856-9280-f4fe88016d2a
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