Documentary record Bound by Fear
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Conviction Christian institutions & contexts Evangelical, Pentecostal, and independent Sutherland Shire, New South Wales, Australia · 2026

Australia: 88-year-old church volunteer jailed decades later for abusing a girl at a Sydney congregation his own pastor covered up

Record class

Core record

Evidence status

Convicted

Authority role

volunteer, Christian Growth Centre (now Horizon Church)

Organization

Christian Growth Centre / Horizon Church, Sutherland Shire

Spiritual nexus

Jones volunteered at the Christian Growth Centre (predecessor to Horizon Church) in Sydney's Sutherland Shire in the late 1980s and early 1990s, gaining access to his victim entirely through her participation in the church's after-school programs, choir, band and kids' clubs; the church's pastor did not report the abuse to police when it came to light at the time.

  • Pastoral or clerical authority
  • Institutional obedience or isolation

Evidence structure

Proceedings

  1. Date in cited record · guilty plea and sentence

    District Court of New South Wales. Jones pleaded guilty to two counts of indecent assault of a child under 16; sentenced to 16 months' imprisonment with parole eligibility after eight months. (Reported June 2026; exact plea/sentencing date not stated in available coverage.)

Documented coercion mechanisms

  • trusted-adult access through after-school church events, choir, band and kids' club
  • the church's own pastor declining to report the abuse to police at the time

Primary record

Sources

religion press court reporting criminal disposition and nexus My Christian Daily, "Former Australian youth leader jailed for sexually assaulting teen."

Report confirming Jones's guilty plea, the 16-month sentence, his age (88), and the Christian Growth Centre/Horizon Church setting.

specialist watchdog court reporting corroboration Cult News 101, "Pentecostal predator had 'lifetime free of punishment' for Sydney child abuse" (June 2026).

Detailed account of the after-school events, choir, church band and kids' club access, and the church's contemporaneous failure to report the abuse to police.

Related record

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