Long-awaited report into child abuse in religion published

The report noted the serious consequences the pastor’s spiritual abuse had on the woman.

It said years later she had a baby who was born 14-weeks premature.

It said the pastor told her God would heal her baby and she should not visit her baby in the hospital.

The report noted the baby later died and that the pastor said it was because the woman’s family was cursed.

The account of another Protestant woman referenced how she was also told she was “riddled with demons”.

She described on one occasion being taken from bible study, and being kept in a house for hours where she was held down in a chair, while a man and a woman laid their hands on her chest to “cast out” the demons.

Separately, a woman from a Catholic background described how she was subjected to years of grooming by a priest.

The report detailed how she had been abused from within her family, and that years later the priest offered to support her therapeutically.

It said the therapy became a means of controlling the woman and eventually manipulating her into what it described as a “coercive, pseudo-spiritual sexually abusive relationship framed as ‘atonement’ or ‘cleansing'” for the abuse she had endured as a child.

The woman described the experience as “soul murder”.

Separately, the report on safeguarding measures said there had been “significant progress” in the development of faith-based organisations’ policies, but there were also “notable challenges and inconsistencies”.

The research, by Georgina Anderson and Dr Orlan Drummond, found that “structured organisations”, particularly with national or regional governance, showed “a strong commitment to safeguarding, with comprehensive policies”.

But the authors said “smaller, independent organisations, which operate without any oversight, present a blind spot in the safeguarding landscape”.

The report said a statutory agency should be given the authority and resources to audit safeguarding practices and enforce compliance.

It also recommended there should be an official register of faith-based organisations, to help identify independent churches.

The scoping study of historical records recommended that “an appropriate legal structure” should be put in place before there was any other work in the area, and the most effective outcome would be achieved by a statutory inquiry.

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