Victims Seek to Take Action against Church

By Dominic Jones
Barry and District News
October 16, 2014

http://www.barryanddistrictnews.co.uk/news/11538138.Victims_seek_to_take_action_against_church/

SPEAKING OUT: Karen Morgan (7806116)

CHANGES to the way the Jehovah's Witness Church deal with child abuse allegations are being sought by victims of Barry sex predator Mark Sewell.

Two of the women who suffered at the hands of the Barry church elder are also taking legal action against the church, saying that they were failed by a culture of secrecy that "protected" Sewell.

In July, Mark Sewell, 53, was jailed for 14 years after being found guilty of one count of rape and seven accounts of sexual assault at Merthyr Tydfil Crown Court.

The offences stretched back more than 20 years, during a time when Sewell, of Porthkerry Road, Barry was a trusted and respected church elder.

One of his victims, his niece Karen Morgan, is spearheading a campaign against practices within the church that she says allowed sexual predator Sewell to run rampant.

Karen, 38, was abused for several years by her uncle from the age of 12. Since speaking out she said she is amazed by the response she has had from people all over the UK. "I've had loads of support from people who have contacted me," she said.

"A couple of them are people also seeking legal action, some of them are going through something similar to what I went through and some of them are people who have never spoken about it."

Along with another victim, who was raped by Sewell at his home, Karen is hoping to bring a court case against the Jehovah's Witnesses - a move that could change the way the church deals with abuse claims.

The church has a rule that states incidents should be dealt with first and foremost internally. Members can be "disfellowshipped" from the church if they are found to have committed a "serious sin".

Another part of the problem, Karen says, is the church's "Two Witness" rule which means that two people must have witnessed a "sin" before elders can take action. In cases involving sexual abuse there is very rarely another witness to an incident other than the victim themselves.

"That's the thing I want to get changed," said Karen. "Especially in the case of sexual abuse involving children.

"Then there's the fact that disfellowshipped people can come back to the congregation and no one knows why they were disfellowshipped.

"There's also the fact that nobody came to support me. No one came to court despite their 'we support victims' and all that rubbish.

"It's just the way it was all handled."