Jehovah’s Witness rape victims claim abuse was covered up because it would bring shame on the religion
Victims say the secretive organisation instructs members not to report crimes to the police
CHILDREN who were raped and abused by Jehovah's Witnesses were told by church elders not to report it because it would shame the religion, it is claimed.
Victims from across Britain have told the BBC how they were routinely abused - but it was hushed up by the secretive organisation.
One victim, Louise Palmer, said she was told reporting her rapist brother to police would "bring reproach on Jehovah".
The 41-year-old, formerly of Halesowen, West Mids, was born into the organisation along with her brother Richard Davenport, who started raping her when she was four. He is now in jail.
She said of the moment she went to elders: "I asked, 'what should I do? Do you report it to the police, do I report it to the police?'
"And their words were that they strongly advised me not to go to the police because it would bring reproach on Jehovah."
Louise added: "I believe children aren't safe. No child is ever going to feel like they can come forward."
Another woman, from Worcestershire, said she was raped as a child by a friend of her brother.
But her parents and elders in the congregation advised her not to report it.
The BBC said it also spoke to male and female victims in Birmingham, Cheltenham, Leicester and Glasgow who told gave similar accounts.
They claim the religion's organising body "self polices" sins but insists on two witnesses before a congregation will act on any alleged transgression.
But that is impossible in most cases of sexual abuse.
Door-to-door evangelists who warn of impending Armageddon
THERE are more than eight million Jehovah's Witnesses in the world.
The religious group is separate from mainstream Christian churches.
Members follow an interpretation of the Bible taught by preacher Charles Taze Russell in Pennsylvania, US, in the late 19th century.
They believe God will end the present world, which belongs to Satan, and create a new Kingdom to restore His original purpose on earth.
Only 144,000 people will go to heaven, with others continuing to live on the new Earth and obey God, also called Jehovah.
Many members quit their jobs and sold their homes and businesses after the organisation predicted Armageddon would come in 1975.
Members are best known for preaching door-to-door and for handing out the magazines Watchtower and Awake!
Famously they refuse blood transfusions, believing it is banned by Bible teachings, leading to court battles between parents and doctors treating sick kids.
Victims also told the BBC church elders teach members to avoid interaction with outside authorities and not to take another member to court.
Breaking this rule could lead to expulsion from the religion, they say.
Child abuse lawyer Kathleen Hallisey believes there could be thousands of victims across the country who have not come forward because of the "two witness" rule.
The organisation described child abuse as a "heinous crime and sin" and said it did not "shield abusers from the authorities of the consequences of their actions".
It said: "Any suggestion that Jehovah's Witnesses covered up child abuse was absolutely false".
It said victims and their parents had "the absolute right to report the matter to the governmental authorities" and that was "not contingent on the number of witnesses to the offence".
The statement added "loving and protective parents" were the "best deterrent to child abuse" and elders provided "abuse victims and their families with spiritual comfort from the Bible".
An ongoing inquiry into safeguarding issues in the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of Britain - the UK's main Jehovah's Witnesses organisation - was begun by the Charity Commission watchdog in 2013.
In May we told how Angie Rodgers was abused by her father from the age of 11 and then by one of the Jehovah's Witness elders she asked for help.
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