England: Jehovah's Witness congregation trustee convicted of indecent assault; Charity Commission finds victims were made to face him in a judicial hearing

Proceedings

1. 2013-10-30 · criminal conviction (2013); statutory regulatory inquiry and report (2014-2017)

   Crown Court (England) — criminal case; Charity Commission for England and Wales — statutory inquiry. Jonathan Rose, a trustee of the Manchester New Moston Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses, was convicted in autumn 2013 of two counts of indecent assault and sentenced on 30 October 2013. Separately, the Charity Commission opened a statutory inquiry on 27 May 2014 and published its report on 26 July 2017, finding that the congregation's trustees had not dealt adequately with the 2012-2013 allegations against Rose: one allegation (from 1993) was dismissed by trustees as 'a matter between 2 teenagers' rather than identified as potential child abuse, and complainants were 'effectively required' to attend a misconduct-appeal hearing, repeat their allegations in Rose's presence, and be questioned by him and by the appeal committee — one member asking a victim 'did you ever egg him on? Goad him on?'

Documented coercion mechanisms

• trustee/elder standing used to control an internal misconduct-appeal hearing at which the alleged victims were required to repeat their allegations in his presence and were questioned by him and by the appeal committee