The Jehovah's Witnesses fought hard to avoid the scrutiny of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care. Now the inquiry report has found 'credible evidence' that child sex abuse occurred within the faith - and no evidence that it was reported.
Victoria waited 50 years to be believed.
The former Jehovah's Witness suffered decades of sexual and physical abuse from her father, a respected Elder in her congregation, that started from childhood through to her teens.
It wasn't until her early 20s that she attempted to tell another Elder about the abuse.
"I wasn't believed. It was because of the two-witness rule. I was asked, 'Where's your other witness?'"
The rule, based on the Jehovah's Witnesses literal translation of their Bible, says there must be two witnesses to a sin before an Elder - equivalent to a minister - can determine if there has been 'wrongdoing'.
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It wasn't until Victoria was 70 and gave evidence to the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care that her story was finally believed.
"I got a lovely letter from the Commission saying, 'We believe you, we accept this happened.'
"That was the first time I'd ever had that experience in my life," she says.
"I saved the letter on my desktop on my computer and look at it whenever I feel discouraged."
The second time she felt vindicated was sitting in the packed-out public gallery of Parliament on Wednesday as the inquiry's final report was tabled, laying bare the depth of this country's systemic abuse of children and vulnerable people in state and faith-based care between 1950 and 1999.
"I was shaking the whole time. But it was amazing to listen to the politicians saying, 'We believe you.'"
"Credible evidence of abuse"
The inquiry's final report included a damning 64-page case study into the Jehovah's Witness faith.
It found the two-witness rule and many of the church's policies and practices increased the risk of abuse in care.
There was "credible evidence" that sexual abuse occurred in the care of the faith, and the practice of Elders questioning children or young people who were victims of sexual abuse during investigations was "inappropriate and emotionally or psychologically abusive".
The extent of sexual abuse was hard to quantify, though, due to poor record-keeping by the faith and the barriers that prevented reporting it.
"These barriers included the inferior position of women within the faith, rigid disclosure processes, the fear of being shunned and the relative disconnection from non-Jehovah's Witnesses, all of which likely prevented or delayed victims from disclosing abuse," the report said.
The faith's practice of shunning - or being excommunicated - was a "significant factor" for witnesses during the inquiry period, as followers were discouraged to have relationships with anyone outside the faith, making leaving even more difficult.
The inquiry found Elders were not vetted or trained in child protection and abuse prevention and members of the faith were often discouraged from reporting allegations to authorities.
Evidence submitted by the Jehovah's Witnesses showed the "types of attitudes towards female victims" of sexual abuse, the report stated.
“例如，文件提到14岁和15岁的女孩对施虐者产生了‘迷恋’。
"In one matter, where an Elder had sexual intercourse with a 15-year-old girl, the Jehovah's Witnesses' summary notes read, "the Elders all felt great shock at the seriousness of the sin, the repercussions to the congregation should the girl become pregnant and the sin thus become known".
这与澳大利亚和英国的调查结果一致。”
“权力位置”
The Jehovah's Witnesses spent years trying to avoid the inquiry's scrutiny, arguing it did not have children or vulnerable people in its care.
今年4月，上诉法院驳回了它的要求，该信仰现在已经申请向最高法院上诉。
该组织还试图在案例研究公布之前获得一份副本，但没有成功。本周早些时候，该组织在最后时刻试图完全阻止该报告的出版，但遭到了拒绝。
调查发现，有可信的证据表明，该信仰确实有儿童和弱势群体在其照顾下，老年人有权力，有信仰赋予他们的地位和权威。
该组织称:“该信仰承担了照顾由长者照顾的儿童和年轻人、见证活动、牧师支持和照顾、工作蜜蜂和其他有组织的活动、调查和司法委员会程序的责任。”
“信仰对这些儿童和年轻人的责任来自于它对长老的权威和信任地位的授予，以及长老在这些情况下不受监督地照顾儿童和年轻人的行动。在这种情况下，儿童和年轻人得到了信仰的照顾。”
调查发现，该信仰的“两证人”规则是基于对圣经的字面解释，这增加了被虐待的风险。
报道称，SC女士15岁时，在一对一的圣经学习后被一名长老猥亵和强奸，“她别无选择，只能参加”。
大多数受害者是被同为该教派成员的男性家庭成员虐待的。
这不仅仅是性虐待，还有心理和情感上的虐待，幸存者说他们在接受“司法调查”和委员会程序的同时，在信仰的照顾下经历了这些。
12岁时，贾斯敏·格鲁(Jasmine Grew)在披露了性侵事件后，受到了三位男性长辈的盘问。
她在接受调查时说:“我走进里屋，长老们(男性)就在那里。我没有支持，没有朋友，没有母亲，什么都没有。我母亲当时并不知道发生了什么事。长老们质问我。他们问了你能想象到的最糟糕的问题，对于一个只有12岁的孩子来说。他们问我，“这很难吗?”指的是我的身体虐待者。他们想知道一切。他们的问题不合适。在那个年纪，这对我来说是一次可怕的经历。这看起来就像性侵本身一样残忍。”
The Jehovah's Witnesses respond
In a statement, the Sydney-based Australasia Branch of Jehovah's Witnesses said the case study was not a "fair and accurate assessment".
"Jehovah's Witnesses have deep sympathy for all victims of abuse and are committed to providing them with support and comfort.
"The protection of children continues to be of utmost concern and importance to all Jehovah's Witnesses.
“我们欢迎审查我们的儿童保护政策，并从一开始就公开参与调查。
"We are therefore dismayed that the case study does not present an accurate and fair assessment of the beliefs and practices of Jehovah's Witnesses."
However, former Jehovah's Witnesses say the case study is a very accurate portrayal of the faith's practices.
“他们很高兴它终于出来了，报告涵盖了他们所有的担忧，尽管有些人觉得很难阅读，”前长老变成幸存者的倡导者谢恩·梅琴说。
他感到失望的是，调查未能给出奥特罗阿可能存在的儿童性虐待指控的数字，并质疑为什么没有使用法律补救措施来获取他认为信仰所持有的信息。
In 2016, the Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Response to Child Sexual Abuse found there had been allegations, reports or complaints received by the Jehovah's Witnesses relating to at least 1800 alleged victims of child sexual abuse, and 11 percent of the alleged perpetrators were elders or ministerial servants.
新西兰的调查发现，“不充分”的记录保存阻碍了对该国性侵犯程度进行定性的能力。
Mechen was not hopeful - along with other former members - of the faith's 'governing body' making a public apology and acknowledgement for the abuse and neglect in the case of Jehovah's Witnesses in New Zealand, as recommended by the Inquiry.
他说:“国际足联从来没有为世界上任何地方的任何虐待行为道歉。”“澳大利亚要求将其作为赔偿计划的一部分，但没有。”
另一位前长老爱德华·纳拉扬(Edward Narayan)也认为道歉不太可能。
“我认为他们不会道歉，除非政府强制要求取消他们的慈善机构地位之类的。”
In a further statement to RNZ, the Australasia Branch of Jehovah's Witnesses said it was "currently reviewing the report and the Inquiry's recommendations so it's premature to say" whether there would be an apology.
Edward Narayan is not hopeful of an apology from the Jehovah's Witnesses.
另一项建议是，所有直接或间接提供照顾的宗教机构都必须对儿童性虐待指控进行强制性报告，并制定适当的政策和程序，以应对投诉、披露或虐待事件。
新浪在3岁至11岁期间，曾被一个有信仰的家庭朋友性侵，她希望看到强制性报告生效。
她认为，教会里的长老们一定对施虐者有所怀疑，但却没有采取任何行动。
“当我成年后，我发现他虐待了另外三个我认识的人。他是会众中非常受人尊敬的成员。他们一定对正在发生的事情有所了解，”她说。
“信仰需要被追究责任，因为这是她们遵守的规则，而在男性主导的组织里，你得不到支持。”
新浪表示，为调查提供证据，并将她的证词纳入本周发表的案例研究中，这对她来说是一种治愈。
“对我来说，补救就是把它公之于众。它帮助我克服了发生在我身上的事情，因为现在我不必生活在阴影中。这件事发生在很多幸存者身上，他们是关起门来的。”
对维多利亚来说，公众对她的证据的关注已经足以弥补她的过失。
“就我个人而言，我向皇家委员会提交报告时，除了把我的故事公诸于众并让人们相信之外，从来没有抱着任何期望，而我做到了。”
“我不知道委员会会怎么做。我希望那些被虐待的人能有一些好的事情发生。”
“我希望这能让这些组织和教会停下来，在下一代人重蹈覆辙之前，思考一下他们的政策和程序。”
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