Don't Look in Their Eyes—It's Easier That Way

Our very young daughter was sexually assaulted by the Presiding Overseer. I reported the incident to the Elders and my father and was categorically informed that without 2 witnesses our daughter was not believed. Our family was a perfect target for this predator as I was being treated for serious post-natal depression and my husband was working away.

I was pressured to remain silent but as my daughter got older she remembered and we decided to support her and to take action. I reported the assault to the police and informed other parents in the congregation of the potential danger. My father and stepmother (both fanatical Jehovah's Witness) stridently opposed us supporting our daughter and reporting to the police and encouraged others in the congregation to follow their lead. The last time my father visited our home I had to take him a cup of tea to the patio as he considered us and our home demonised.

Even though no formal action was taken against us that I am aware of, my baptised husband and I, and our unbaptized school-age son were subjected to cruel shunning. Our daughter had left the family home at this stage. Our son was very hurt to find that the friends he had grown up with would no longer associate with him at school. I was leaving a supermarket and two formerly good friends passed me. One said to the other, "Don't look in their eyes, it's easier that way". As a nurse, while attending to an elderly patient, her son, an elder, stood with his back to me the whole time. 

We had a car accident an hour away from home and at least two local Witnesses passed by. I was part of a large five-generational family, but they actively all shunned us, and outside friends were discouraged. We had no one else to telephone. We had to get a ride with a tow truck and then a taxi home which cost over 360 dollars. For the sin of reporting child abuse and breaking the 2 witness rule we where so savagely shunned that we sold our home of 30 years with its beautiful garden and moved thousands of kilometers away.