tvnz [New Zealand]
October 9, 2006
http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/488120/848347
A woman who fled the Exclusive Brethren church says she is aware of multiple cases of child sex abuse which were covered up by the religious sect.
Phillipa, who prefers not to give her family name, says the acts took place over several decades and the victims were mainly teenage boys.
She is now prepared to co-operate with any police investigation.
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| Exclusive Brethren accused of child sex abuse |
Philippa was encouraged to live her life by The Bible for 40 years, but the former Exclusive Brethren member says when it came to morality, the sect was anything but an open book.
She says sexual abuse by teenagers with other teenage males and children was dealt with by the church underground.
"If it was covered up back then, it's probably still covered up today," she says.
"In the particular place where I lived there was a huge amount of sodomy amongst the teenage boys etcetera. And that's one of the reasons why I've shifted my family away from that area where we used to live," she says.
Philippa left the Exclusive Brethren with her seven children six years ago. She says the abuse was occurring up until nine years ago.
She did not want to show her face but she does want to speak out, something she says the victims of abuse struggle to do.
"You definitely wouldn't want to tell anybody, 'cause then everybody would know about you and you would be looked upon as the bad person because you spoke out."
And she says she is not talking about isolated incidents.
"I would say there's multiple offenders. If I asked them now they would try and deny it because in there is a huge fear and guilt thing and perhaps a lot of people in there who have got this problem and involved in this sort of thing, would not go outside of the church for help. A lot of these people need help."
She says she knows names of offenders but "hadn't really thought" about going to the police.
"It's hard for me to. I know this doesn't sound good but those things, they were just sort of part of life and things that happened."
Philippa says the victims would now be in their twenties, thirties and forties and all remain in the church.
Her claims have an echo across the Tasman.
Joy Nason a former Exclusive Brethren member told the ABC she has heard people confess to molesting children.
She said those acts were "definitely not" reported to the police.
"No they were forgiven. If the person was sorry, if the person showed enough contrition, the Brethren forgave them."
No New Zealand Exclusive Brethren members contacted by One News were prepared to comment on Philippa's claims.
But she has given One News the names of seven men she says were involved in acts of sexual abuse and is now prepared to co-operate with any police investigation.
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