Jehovah's Witnesses ‘Hid’ 1K Sex Abusers

The Jehovah's Witness church hid child sex abuse allegations against more than 1,000 of its members, a Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in Australia heard Monday. The reports came across a 60-year period, and the church followed a policy of internal investigation into the allegations. Testimony to the commission also said that 401 members were kicked out of the church since 1950, but half were later allowed back in—and that the requirement that two witnesses testify to the crime meant that many of the sex abuse allegations went uninvestigated. The counselor presenting evidence said that the church looked at the "spirituality and the seductiveness" of accusers when evaluating their abuse claims, and that it blamed at least two victims for their own abuse.