Good afternoon,
In 1988 I was at the Communion service when Ian Barlow announced the dreadful sexual misconduct of Ray Jackson, the leader of Melbourne Christian Fellowship at that time.
Ian commenced his announcement by saying;
‘There is no easy way to say this, so I’m just going to read from a written statement’
Today I am going to use those same words, but this time the announcement is about another Elder, still working in the CFO.
Just like Ian, I am reading from a written statement, but this one was prepared by the actual victim of the alleged sexual abuse.
For legal reasons we will not identify the accused or the alleged victim. Because this woman’s statement may lead a criminal investigation, we are limited in what we can say to the summary below. We have not included direct quotes from the statement to further redact the document. The wording at paragraphs 1. to 17. is my own.
Having received clearance from our solicitors, this is my summary of the salient paragraphs from the statement, which I believe are in the public interest:
1.
A woman has provided a written statement to us accusing an Elder of sexually assaulting her.
2.
The Elder is currently employed by the CFO and continues to perform his religious duties as a member of the Presbytery and is revered by the congregation as one of the ‘messengers of Gods’ word.
3.
The woman was living with the man and his wife to receive care for a mental health condition the woman says she suffered while attending xCF. During her stay, the man entered her room and sexually assaulted her. While the alleged assault was taking place, the man’s wife entered the room, discovering her husband’s actions and stopping the assault.
4.
After a night of loud arguments between the man and his wife, they emerged in the morning to blame the assault on the victim. The woman was sent home, and the couple have ostracised and coerced her into remaining silent, ever since.
5.
Neither the man nor his wife reported the assault to police.
6.
Sometime later the same man, is accused of visiting the woman’s home, knowing that she would be alone.
7.
The woman opened the door to find the man standing there. With the previous incident fresh in her mind, she attempted to slam the door shut to prevent his entry.
8.
The man wedged his foot into the gap between the door and the door frame before it could be closed.
9.
The woman was able to flee and hide in a room in the house.
10.
The man searched the house until he found her.
11.
He spoke only one sentence to her. I will not repeat what was alleged to have been said by the man. Nor will I repeat what the woman allegedly said to protect herself. But it is obvious he had come there for sex, consensual or otherwise.
12.
The man left without saying another word.
13.
The woman reports being terrified, fearing that she was going to be raped.
14.
The woman believes the man’s action were intended to intimidate her into remaining silent about the previous assault.
15.
At a subsequent church function, the woman overheard this same man laughing and bragging about how he had ‘jumped her fence’ to gain access to her house.
16.
Another man listening to the story said nothing, did not report the incident or make enquiries to assist the woman. We understand the other man was on the payroll of the church at the time.
17.
Having this conversation within listening distance of the victim, appears to be another form of intimidation. A display of total power over the woman and complete confidence he would never be held to account because he controlled all the people necessary to keep the assaults secret.
18.
We believe the man’s wife does not know about this second incident. Any benefit of the doubt she may have given in relation to the first incident may now evaporate.
While we are prevented from identifying the accused man and his wife, we will seek the first lawful opportunity to release their identities and have the allegation tested in a court. We can only do this with the permission of the alleged victim(s) of course.
As always, I remind everyone to adopt the presumption of innocence as these allegations have not been tested in a court.
However, it is worth noting, my other research indicates that a pattern existed at the time of the alleged assault, where young women were persuaded to live with Leaders and their wives for a period of time. On the surface, these arrangements were focused on care for the young women, but included faith based healing, where conventional medical treatment was denied without the consent of the young women.
Another trend is that young women were persuaded to leave their family homes and live in a ‘Girl’s House’.
I hold concerns these arrangements may not have been solely motivated by spiritual enlightenment and may have been intended to break family bonds and allow leaders access to venerable subservient young women.
I have also received three other verbal statements involving allegations of sexual assaults by this same man against other women. In my opinion, the reliability and credibility of these verbal accounts is high. In one case, these allegations were confirmed to me personally by a close relative of the accused. One alleged victim gave her account to someone within my immediate family. And another woman who has given a written statement recounted a conversation in which one of the victims told her of a sexual assault by this man but said, ‘there’s no point in reporting to police, I’ll never be believed…’
Shortly, I will be writing to two of these alleged victims to see if they need assistance and counselling. We hope by making this announcement today, anyone who has suffered a sexual assault at the hands of someone inside the CFO, would feel comfortable to contact us.
Where a woman over the age of 16 years suffers a sexual assault, it is not mandatory for them to report the assault to police. If you do not wish your situation to be reported, we are allowed to respect your decision, and we will maintain your confidentially. (these rules can be different depending on which State you were in at the time of the offence, so please contact us anonymously and we’ll guide you).
Most importantly, we want victims to begin the healing process by receiving support and counselling. However, if a victim does want to report something to police, we have volunteers willing to accompany them while they make their reports. We have a great relationship with police who are aware of Samson Rising’s work and very keen to help ensure this man does not offend again.
We believe it is in the public interest for this man to be investigated and we will offer our full support to authorities.
I cannot express the depth of my gratitude to the incredibly brave woman who’s come forward to provide this statement.
With the amount of evidence we have, we are confident an investigation into the CFO will commence soon. The above witness statement will form part of our complaints to the ACNC.
A copy of the woman’s complaint will also be served on each individual Committee member of the particular xCF involved.
To ensure the woman’s complaint is not ‘dealt with internally’ (AKA covered up), we will provide the witness statement when an ACNC investigation commences.
This timing ensures the Committee’s response to the woman’s complaint will be under the direct gaze of the ACNC. The Committee’s Governance will be closely examined, and I’ve listed below some of the Governance related issues facing the Committee.
Each member of the Committee should take their own advice, but the following things should be high priorities for each Committee member.
If Committee members breach their duty of care, they can face disqualification from holding office and face personal liability to victims. Congregants and voting members of the Association may take legal action if they have been harmed by a committee member’s failure to act in their best interests.
If an investigation by authorities results in the loss of xCF assets, voting members and congregants may take legal action for breach of trust and financial loss.
This could leave the personal assets of committee members exposed.
If they are unable to meet the required standards of a committee member they should reconsider their position on the committee.
Committee members personally liable – ACNC GUIDE TO GOOD GOVERNANCE >
I have listed the issues the committee will need to address to meet their duty of care.
A message from Vic Hall:
‘God requires what is past it must be dealt with. What is in the past must be dealt with.’
To conclude I’d like this man to hear a message from Vic Hall:
On behalf of the Team
Samson
