Enfield Independent
June 10, 2008
http://www.enfieldindependent.co.uk/news/localnews/display.var.2330600.0. church_leader_jailed_for_sexual_assaults_on_girls.php
A CHURCH youth leader who brutally raped a terrified 16-year-old choir girl and indecently assaulted at least five others - one just eight-years-old - has been caged for 11 years.
Yet although his behaviour was made aware to the church, they forgave' him and told him to get counselling after an initial complaint, and then expelled him from the church after a second complaint, never reporting the matter to police, Wood Green Crown Court was told.
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| Serial sex offender Howard Zin Green |
Serial sex offender Howard Zin Green, 47, befriended the "God-fearing" choir girls and their families when he met them at Seventh-day Adventist churches across London, including in Enfield and Edmonton.
Green gained the girls' trust and gradually groomed' them, before sexually assaulting them during a 14-year long pattern of abuse' between 1980 and 1994.
It was only 12 years later, in 2006, that one of his victims went to police following counselling and an investigation uncovered a pattern of abuse.
Green, of Queens Avenue, Greenford, west London, began his campaign when he raped a 16-year-old choir girl he met at a church in Croydon, south London.
The following day he made her go to hospital and get the morning after pill.
He then sexually assaulted a girl under ten and her 16-year-old sister whom he met at a church in Peckham, south London, in 1981, the court heard.
The sex predator then moved on to churches in Edmonton and Enfield, where he indecently assaulted a 31-year-old woman in her own home.
Despite apologising to the terrified woman, saying "I am sorry, I don't know what's wrong with me", Green went on to assault her daughter, who was under 16, in 1991.
The court was told how he also assaulted two other girls, one under 12 and one under 15, with the last offence taking place in 1994.
One terrified victim woke up to find Green staring at her, before he lay on top of her. Another was assaulted after he went in to her bedroom and began tickling her feet.
Green also ordered one of the girls "not to tell anyone when I play with you", the court heard.
The court was told how a complaint was made to the church in 1994, but Green was forgiven and ordered to attend counselling after he showed remorse.
Green pleaded guilty to one count of rape and seven counts of indecent assault in March this year. A further 11 charges are to lie on file.
Sentencing Green, Judge Anthony Ansell said: "Your actions were unforgivable. In a sense you corrupted and destroyed a whole generation of young girls who were God-fearing members of that church.
"They trusted you. Their parents trusted you as a church leader, choirmaster and somebody to look up to.
"The trauma you inflicted on these young girls will live with them for the rest of their lives. In some cases you encouraged them to keep it secret."
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