More Wolves Among the Sheep > Wealthy Two by Twos don't have any money for CSA compensation

 

Former members of Two by Twos call for financial transparency to access abuse compensation

• By Tobi Loftus

• Topic:Religion

3h ago3 hours ago

The Two by Twos are known for their conservative clothing and strict interpretation of the New Testament.  (Supplied)

Survivors of a secretive Christian sect central to a global child sexual abuse investigation are demanding its leaders disclose how much wealth the group controls.

Warning: Readers are advised this article discusses sexual abuse.

They say a lack of financial transparency is preventing victims from accessing compensation.

The sect has no official name. Members refer to it as the Truth or the Way, while critics commonly call it the Two by Twos. Some refer to it as a cult. 

In Australia, it has also operated under names including Undenominational Christians and Non-denominational Christians.

The sect holds yearly conventions at properties around Australia, where large tents are set up for prayer sessions.  (Supplied)

Founded in Ireland in the late 1800s, the sect follows a strict interpretation of the Bible, with members meeting in private homes for worship.

Its ministers, known as workers, move between cities and countries in groups of two, and followers are encouraged to avoid modern media and wear conservative clothing.

The group has been under investigation by the FBI in the United States over historical child sexual abuse allegations and has also faced claims of psychological abuse.

The FBI have launched a webpage where it's asking victims of abuse within the Two by Twos to come forward.  (ABC News: Tobi Loftus)

It has a presence across most Australian states and territories.

Hundreds of alleged victims

In Australia and New Zealand, a survivor hotline called The Brave Truth has received reports from about 300 alleged victims, alleging abuse from about 200 perpetrators.

Not all of these allegations have been proven in a court of law and a number go back several decades. 

The hotline is run by Brisbane resident and former member Jillian Hishon, who said survivors were increasingly demanding transparency around the sect's finances in the hope compensation could be accessed.

Jillian Hishon runs the Brave Truth hotline.  (ABC News: Tobi Loftus)

"It's an unknown quantity [how much money the sect has]," Ms Hishon said.

"They get left money in wills and estates. There is no tracking of it, that's why it's so hard to know.

"We've heard numbers of $50 million worth of funds in trusts.

"But because there is no financial transparency, you're left to guess really exactly what the money gets spent on."

Ms Hishon said members were often told by leaders that the group had no money.

How sect manages finances

But documents obtained by the ABC show the sect relies on followers and private trusts to pay for property, insurance and fund internal investigations into abuse allegations.

In January 2023, one of the sect's senior leaders, overseer Graeme Dalton, wrote to members explaining that a convention site near Mudgee in New South Wales — owned by three individuals — was due to be sold.

FBI investigating secretive Christian sect

The sect is known by a variety of names including the Two by Twos, The Church With No Name, The Truth and The Way.

Convention sites are typically rural properties owned by members or held in trust, where followers gather for several days of Bible study.

"The proceeds of that [Mudgee] sale can be used for any improvements at other grounds … or the support of workers and needs overseas," Mr Dalton wrote in the 2023 letter seen by the ABC.

The site sold in June this year for $1.55 million.

However, in response to ABC questions, Mr Dalton walked back those comments from 2023 and said the convention grounds were "privately owned or privately managed under trust arrangements" and the "fellowship does not direct or receive funds".

"The recent sale of the Mudgee site was conducted in accordance with the trust deed and the responsibilities of the trustees," he said.

"Funds from the sale are directed by the trustees and are not controlled or allocated by workers or overseers; workers are neither trustees nor beneficiaries.

"Decisions regarding the sale and use of proceeds are matters for the trustees, who have changed over time, and are separate from the fellowship's ongoing activities."

Insurance and investigations

The ABC can also reveal the sect holds a wide-ranging public liability insurance policy under the name Undenominational Christians, issued by insurer ACS Financial.

The policy is used to book halls and other venues for events.

Sexual assault support lines:

• 1800 Respect National Helpline: 1800 737 732
• Men's Referral Service: 1300 766 491
• Lifeline (24-hour crisis line): 131 114
• Victims of Crime Helpline: 1800 819 817
• Full Stop Australia: 1800 385 578

"Our public liability insurance is funded by private individuals and includes child sexual abuse cover," Mr Dalton said.

In October, the group's overseer in Western Australia, Steve Thorpe, emailed members saying a law firm had been commissioned to investigate abuse allegations, but that the investigation was funded independently by members.

"I wish to make it clear that we workers were not involved in the payment aspect of this investigation ... nor did we offer any of the money that has been given into our responsibility by anyone to pay for this. It has been funded by some amongst you. I do not know who funded it," he said.

This use of private trusts and member-funded expenses appears to be replicated internationally.

Believers meet yearly at convention sites like this one to pray and learn about the sect's beliefs.  (Supplied)

Calls for compensation

In October, former member Laura McConnell-Conti told the Victoria Parliament's Inquiry into the Recruitment Methods and Impacts of Cults that the sect "refuses to register church entities or corporate entities and implement legally binding accountability structures anywhere in the world".

"They operate in cash donations and then, in my experience, siphon the money through wealthy Truth Two by Twos' legitimate businesses,"

she said.

"They also utilise family trusts with wealthy and trusted families rather than clergy listed as the trustees.

"In Australia that has resulted in survivors like me being unable to access redress through the Federal Redress Scheme set up after the Royal Commission into Institutional Child Abuse."

Laura McConnell-Conti grew up in the Two by Twos. (Supplied: Laura McConnell-Conti)

Wings for Truth, an advocacy organisation for survivors of the sect, estimates there may be thousands of trusts connected to the sect worldwide, with combined assets possibly exceeding $500 million.

Ms Hishon said survivors wanted leaders to acknowledge resources and assist victims.

"They need to stop saying that 'We've got no money, we don't have bank accounts' and admit to what they have," she said.

"We know that they've been left lots and lots of money in estates. They get given lots of money.

"It needs to be going to survivors."

Jillian Hishon wants to see the sect become more transparent.  (ABC News: Tobi Loftus)

'Committed' to preventing abuse

Mr Dalton said the fellowship was still intending to participate in the National Redress Scheme.

"All required information was provided on or before July 2024, and we have been advised that our application is progressing appropriately, with no further action required from us at this stage," he said.

"We will continue to monitor progress and provide any additional assistance as requested.

"While we appreciate the challenges involved in administering the Scheme, we are nonetheless disappointed by the ongoing delays in the processing of applications."

Sites on the convention site are turned into communal dining areas.  (Supplied)

He said all workers in Australia were now required to complete child sexual abuse awareness training and hold Working With Children checks.

"We remain committed to preventing any incidents of harm or abuse in Australia or New Zealand,"

he said.

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Military Madness > Nothing yet remotely resembling closure in China over Japanese army's comfort women abuse

 

In China, rare voices seek to break taboo over 'comfort women' raped by Japanese army

Asia / Pacific

REVISITED © FRANCE 24

Issued on: 17/01/2025 - 19:49

14:50 min

During World War II, the Japanese imperial authorities abducted, coerced, tricked and sometimes recruited hundreds of thousands of women from Japan's colonial empire to become sexual slaves for soldiers. Sometimes minors, these women were called "comfort women" and were raped repeatedly in brothels near the front lines. With only a handful of survivors still alive in China, our reporters met one of them: 95-year-old Peng Zhuying. She is determined to share her story in a country where the subject remains taboo.

Being a "comfort woman" was long considered shameful. As a result, the exact number of victims remains unknown. Between 1932 and 1945, hundreds of thousands of women – around 200,000, according to historians – were abducted from the four corners of Japan's colonial empire. These Korean, Chinese, Taiwanese, Filipino and Indonesian women, some of them minors, were made available to Japanese soldiers in brothels near the front lines. 

Back in 1991, a 67-year-old Korean woman named Kim Hak-soon publicly shared her story of being forced to live in a military brothel as a teenager. Soldiers raped her multiple times a day. Her trailblazing testimony led to many others speaking up and eventually a civil society movement was born, focused on bringing justice to "comfort women". Decades of campaigning in South Korea means that there is now widespread awareness of what happened to the "comfort women".

Only eight known Chinese victims still alive

But in China, the issue remains taboo. Most of the victims were from rural and traditional regions, where rape has long been a shameful topic. The Chinese Communist Party also considers history to be extremely sensitive and decides top-down on how to remember the past. In state media, different facets of wartime atrocities are highlighted according to Beijing's relations with Tokyo at a given time. School textbooks barely mention the crimes. With little to no feminist activism to help approach the topic with sensitivity, the issue has often been cast aside.

The real shame is that the hundreds of thousands of women who were abused never received any support or even acknowledgment of their extraordinary suffering. Communists are such idiots to think that by rewriting history they can erase the horrors from society. Truth can never be erased.

Despite these difficulties, a handful of Chinese scholars and volunteers want the wider public to care. They have devoted their careers, and sometimes their lives, to this cause. But time is running out to collect the testimonies of rape and exploitation of these women, who are now very elderly. In June of last year, one of the last surviving victims passed away. Only eight publicly known Chinese victims are still alive.

Our reporters met one of them: 95-year-old Peng Zhuying. She was a visually impaired teenager when soldiers dragged her to a brothel and raped her repeatedly. The former "comfort woman" told FRANCE 24 about the trauma she endured. She would now like younger generations to know what happened during this painful chapter of China's history. 

Japan ordered to compensate wartime 'comfort women'

23 November 2023 - Korea

By September 2002, the Asian Women’s Fund had completed projects in the Netherlands, the Philippines, the Republic of Korea, and Taiwan, offering the atonement of the Japanese Government to victims who had been forced to become comfort women. The women also received a letter from the Japanese Prime Minister, expressing feelings of apology and remorse and the determination to ensure that such a tragedy would never occur again. 

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Canada's 1st Nations Children Finally to be Compensated - But Will it Help?

..

Canada agrees to ‘historic reparations’ for 200,000 indigenous children

Billions of dollars will be paid in compensation to the victims of ‘discriminatory’

First Nations child welfare system

A memorial in British Columbia for indigenous people subject to Canada’s residential School system. September 30, 2021. © Getty Images / Alex Ratson

The Canadian government has reached a “milestone” $31-billion settlement to compensate indigenous children and families harmed by the “discriminatory underfunding” of the child welfare system on First Nations reservations.

Two in-principle agreements – relating to compensation for more than 200,000 affected children dating back to 1991, and to future reform of the system – represent the “largest settlement in Canadian history,” Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Marc Miller said on Tuesday.

Marc Miller is gaining a reputation for getting things done. As such, he stands out among Liberal Ministers.

Noting that “historic injustices require historic reparations,” Miller said that “no amount of money can reverse the harms experienced” and described the deals as an acknowledgement that successive governments had failed indigenous children.

Once finalized, the settlement will conclude a long-running legal battle, which began in 2007 with a complaint by the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society to the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal (CHRT). In 2016, the tribunal ruled that Ottawa had underfunded services for First Nations children relative to those for non-indigenous children.

The Canadian government appealed the CHRT verdict, which ordered it to pay compensation worth Can$40,000 (US$31,455) to every indigenous child who had been removed from their family through the system or been forced to leave their home.

After losing that appeal last year, the government entered formal negotiations with indigenous groups instead of taking the matter to the Supreme Court. The discussions concluded on New Year’s Eve. Justice Minister David Lametti said the government would withdraw its appeals once the agreements are finalized.

Describing the deal as “words on paper,” Cindy Blackstock, executive director of the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society, told Reuters that the Can$20 billion in funds earmarked for system reform may not tackle deep-rooted problems.

Deep-rooted is right. The roots go back well over 100 years to the residential school disgrace. Child abuse and child sexual abuse emerged from the inhumane treatment of 1st Nations people for over 100 years and continues today through generational abuse. 

I don't have the details of how this payment will work, but I have a lot of questions. I really hope it does work and brings closure to abused children and adults. However, Trudeau throws money around like there is no end to it. His father did the same and nearly bankrupted Canada. Justin, will certainly complete his father's failure. Where will the victims of child abuse stand when Canada goes under, and it will.

Having lived around indigenous people for many years, and having experience in fostering abused children, I know that in some 1st Nations communities there are more abused and neglected children than there are families who can foster those children. Social workers weren't always wrong in moving aboriginal children into homes of white families, not by a long shot. Some would probably not be alive otherwise.

How does the government improve the ability of parents and grandparents to be good child-carers when they have been abused themselves? I don't know the answer to that question. Perhaps 1st Nations people know the answer, but something needs to be done here or the government is just throwing money into the wind.

“I judge victory when I can walk into a community and a child is able to say to me, ‘My life is better than it was yesterday.’ Nothing in these words actually changes children’s lives until it’s implemented,” Blackstock said.

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Today's Global Pervs and Paedos List > Res School Victims Compo; "Psychopath" Released from UK Prison; Iceland Footie Stars; Sick Mom Loses Kids

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Residential School victims making progress in fight with government for fair compensation.

81 St. Anne's residential school compensation cases require

'significant review,' says court filing

St. Anne's survivors battled Conservative, Liberal governments over

suppressed police records

Jorge Barrera · CBC News · 

Posted: Sep 02, 2021 4:00 AM ET 

Edmund Metatawabin is a former chief of Fort Albany First Nation who has led the legal battle for a compensation review on behalf of St. Anne's residential school survivors. (Erik White/CBC)

An official appointed by the Ontario Superior Court has found 81 compensation cases involving the notorious St. Anne's residential school require "significant review," as their outcomes could have been impacted by evidence contained in police records that the federal government failed to disclose.

According to an interim report filed with the court on Aug. 17, retired B.C. judge Ian Pitfield found those 81 cases included instances where survivors received either no compensation or a lower award over credibility questions around the severity of the alleged abuse.

"The claims that will require significant review ... number 81 in total," Pitfield wrote in the filing.

Pitfield was appointed last April to review 427 compensation cases that were resolved before an Ontario court ordered the federal Conservative government in 2014 and 2015 to turn over thousands of police records related to St. Anne's residential school.

He said he could not say when the review would be complete.

The horrors of St. Anne's

The records are from an Ontario Provincial Police investigation launched in 1992 into widespread historical physical and sexual abuse at the institution in Fort Albany First Nation, which sits along the coast of James Bay in northern Ontario.

The investigation lasted six years and produced thousands of pages of documentation, including about 900 statements from 700 victims describing assaults, sexual assaults, suspicious deaths and a multitude of other abuses.

St. Anne's survivors have been battling the current Liberal government over the past six years to have these compensation cases reopened, arguing the suppressed evidence in the police records would have substantiated claims of severe abuse that weren't believed.

Survivor Edmund Metatawabin, who has been one of the lead voices in the ongoing litigation, said he knows of one woman who was repeatedly sexually assaulted by a bishop at the school, but wasn't believed because there were no witnesses.

"Somebody that received a slap one or two times [would be believed], because the compensation amount and the seriousness of the allegations will be quite low and harmless, so they were acceptable," said Metatawabin.

"That is the kind of decisions that were being made."

Police records would back abuse claims

With the OPP records in hand, Metatawabin said the cases involving serious allegations would not have been so easily dismissed by adjudicators deciding compensation amounts.

"And that is why we went to court to show the seriousness of the incidents that happened," he said.

Pitfield's ongoing review still falls short, Metatawabin said, because survivors don't know their cases are getting a second look via a purely a paper review, and survivors have no opportunity to retain legal counsel or provide input.

"You are treating them as numbers. You don't know their personalities, their identity, the nature of their suffering or the effects of their suffering," said Metatawabin. "So they are still invisible people."

St. Anne's Indian Residential School is shown in Fort Albany, Ont., in the 1940s. The school was run by the Catholic orders of Oblates of Mary Immaculate and the Grey Sisters of the Cross from 1902 until 1976, and funded by the federal government beginning in 1906. (Algoma University/Edmund Metatawabin Collection)

The 2006 Indian Residential School Settlement Agreement created a compensation mechanism known as the Independent Assessment Process (IAP). Under the IAP, adjudicators would hear evidence from survivors to determine compensation amounts. The federal government provided the bulk of the documented evidence for claims and was also able to challenge allegations of abuse. 

For the first seven years of the IAP, the federal Department of Justice, under the Harper government, withheld thousands of pages of OPP records, along with criminal and civil records from cases involving St. Anne's.

Mentions of the OPP investigation and subsequent court cases were deleted from the St. Anne's school history — known as the school narrative — provided to survivors and their lawyers for preparing compensation cases. 

The Trudeau government then spent millions of dollars fighting attempts by St. Anne's survivors to reopen compensation cases based on the Justice Department's failure to disclose the police and court records. 

But in late March, as the IAP process wrapped up, the Justice Department, acting under the direction of Crown-Indigeous Relations Minister Carolyn Bennett, requested the Ontario court review St. Anne's compensation cases. 

There is more to this story at CBC News. 

Notorious UK child murderer and rapist Colin Pitchfork

released from prison despite protests

1 Sep, 2021 12:12

Convicted child murderer and rapist Colin Pitchfork was released from UK prison on Wednesday after serving 33 years, despite several attempts to keep him behind bars.

Pitchfork – who was the first person in the UK to be convicted of a crime using DNA evidence – was sentenced to life in prison in 1988 for the rape and murder of two 15-year-old schoolgirls in Leicestershire between 1983 and 1986.

In June, however, Pitchfork was deemed “suitable for release” by a Parole Board panel, which cited the murderer’s “progress made while in custody.”

Despite protests and several attempts to keep him in prison – including from South Leicestershire MP Alberto Costa, who said he was “appalled” by the Parole Board’s “immoral, wrong and frankly dangerous” decision – Pitchfork was released on Wednesday.

The Ministry of Justice issued a statement extending its “heartfelt sympathies” to the families of Pitchfork’s victims, Lynda Mann and Dawn Ashworth, and assured the public that Pitchfork would be monitored under strict conditions.

“Public safety is our top priority, which is why he is subject to some of the strictest licence conditions ever set and will remain under supervision for the rest of his life,” a Ministry of Justice spokesperson explained, adding that if Pitchfork ever “breaches these conditions, he faces an immediate return to prison.”

The mother of victim Dawn Ashworth warned in June that though Pitchfork “can’t hurt me any more than he has already by killing my daughter,” there will always be “other 15-year-old girls in the streets” that could potentially fall victim.

“If he was released, he could search for any victim he wanted to. He is a psychopath who should be kept in prison where he belongs,” she declared.

Pitchfork was previously afforded a taste of freedom in 2017, when he was allowed to roam the streets of Bristol unaccompanied on day release. Photos of Pitchfork visiting several shops, buying a sandwich, and eating on a bench as members of the public completely unaware of the murderer’s identity walked by horrified Brits and made headlines.

Brits on social media called Pitchfork’s release “absolute sickening” and “a scary decision.”

“This isn’t right. Young women and girls are at massive risk,” tweeted feminist activist Jean Hatchet, while journalist Charlie Peters declared, “This naive insanity has got to stop.”

Pointing out that “1 in 5 murders are committed on parole,” Louise Perry – a New Statesman columnist and campaigner against sexual violence – wrote, “If Colin Pitchfork rapes and kills another child, the individuals responsible for this decision should be held accountable.”

Sure, that's not going to happen in this world. 

‘We need to start believing victims’: Football crisis in Iceland

as national stars accused of sexual abuse, prime minister shocked

2 Sep, 2021 12:28

Iceland prime minister Katrin Jakobsdottir has spoken about sexual abuse allegations against the nation's players © John Sibley / Action Images via Reuters | © Geirix / Reuters

Iceland's prime minister has called for the country's football association to address sexual abuse after the organization's entire board resigned following a woman's claim that a national team player assaulted her in a nightclub.

Thorhildur Gyda Arnarsdottir told public broadcaster RUV that an Iceland star attacked her in a Reykjavik nightspot in September 2017, adding that she had joined another woman in filing police reports against a player for sexual assault that night.

The 25-year-old went public after the chairman of the Football Association of Iceland (KSI), Gudni Bergsson, said that it had not received any complaints about sexual offenses by players – but the supremo and his board resigned in the aftermath of Arnarsdottir's allegations.

The head of state, Katrin Jakobsdottir, held a cabinet meeting over the scandal and said she was saddened that the allegations had been needed to launch a wider exploration of abuse within football in her country.

"I hope this will be a learning curve for the football movement," she said, adding that she has "great admiration for the victims" who went public.

Icelandic media reports say accusations have been circulating about current and former national team players, and Thorhildur told the Visir newspaper that at least six other players have been accused of sexual assaults.

"I just hope that this has shown us, as a society, that we need to start believing in victims when they step forward," she said, expressing relief that KSI's board had resigned.

Swedish club Gothenburg said that one of its players, who was not named, was reported to police regarding allegations of "sexual harassment in 2017".

"The police investigation did not lead to any prosecution, but the parties agreed on a settlement," it said, with club director Hakan Mild adding: "IFK Gothenburg takes this very seriously, even if the case, in the legal sense, is closed," said.

Is the creep still playing for IFK Gothenburg? If he is, you're still not taking this very seriously.

Dadi Rafnsson, the head of football development at top-flight side HK, said a "toxic boys' culture" exists around football in Iceland which is "so hard to work against".

"It permeates everything and is everywhere, so people do not see when things are not right," the doctor of psychology told Kjarnin.

"It is not limited to football but it is a problem for boys. We may be preparing them a little badly for the real world.

"It is as if they are to sail through things without putting in the effort while the women are supposed to be responsible and work hard and maybe they will get the progress – but the boys think they deserve it.

"The interesting thing is that when you reach out to boys and young men one by one, they know exactly what is true, good and right. But when they get together in a group, some bad culture arises."

Vidar Halldorsson, a professor of sociology at the University of Iceland, warned that accusations against footballers put parents in a difficult position when their children admire the team.

"This is naturally a huge issue in Icelandic society and it just shakes society," he told Visir. "There are our heroes, fallen from a pedestal, and role models for children and young people, so parents do not quite know which foot to step on.

"This is a very big issue and a very complex issue in many places and we know that this sexual harassment of women has been going on for centuries but is now manifested in this way in football.

"But this naturally applies to the whole of society; this is what women and girls have been fighting against for a long time, to eradicate this and bring it to the surface, and this is happening in all areas of society."

KSI issued a statement pledging to root out problems and work for change.

"Work is already underway with external professionals to review all responses to sexual offences and violence within the association and how support was and will be provided to victims," it said.

That's a start! Good for you, Thorhildur.

A British mum who sexually abused her children and even

urinated in their drinks was caught by the FBI

11 hours ago

The woman in her 20s boasted of urinating in the children’s juice cups and exchanged sick fantasies with paedophiles on the internet.

Oxford Crown Court heard the mum-of-two who cannot be named for legal reasons was snared in an FBI sting last summer, with the file passed to the UK authorities.

She was also found to have exchanged messages with a paedophile since jailed for more than a decade after an investigation by the Metropolitan Police.

Jailing her for six years on Thursday, Judge Nigel Daly said: “I find this behaviour quite impossible to comprehend.

“As you will appreciate, anything that appears on the internet will in all probability remain there forever and you have subjected your own infant children to this very real possibility.”

Prosecutor Lisa Goddard told the court that accounts belonging to the Oxfordshire woman were identified in a sting operation by the FBI’s child exploitation team last May and June.

The woman said she was living with her two children and urinating in cups and making them drink it.

An undercover FBI officer, posing as a paedophile, exchanged messages with the mum that betrayed the woman’s disturbing sexual interest in her own and other children.

She claimed it would be ‘hot’ to see a man be sexually aroused by the children and sent a naked image of herself with a baby’s foot touching her bottom.

Ms Goddard read another message from the defendant to the undercover officer in which she said she ‘needed to marry a paedophile’.

The woman was also found to be swapping messages with a paedophile later caught in a Met Police probe. She appeared to be arranging for her children to be abused by the man, although she told him: “I don’t really want them in pain or anything.”

How utterly motherly of you!

Police arrested her last summer and seized two phones on which were found 377 indecent images and videos of children in the most serious category including films showing the rape of babies. She had 313 images in category B and 191 in category C.

Also found on a phone was an app designed to hide image and video files.

The woman, who admitted sexual assault on a child under 13, sexual activity with a child, possession of an extreme pornographic image and making and distributing indecent images of children. She had no previous convictions.

Mitigating, James Reilly said his client was remorseful. She had had a ‘troubled childhood’, during which she was raped by an uncle, and had also been abused by a partner.

“She wants to get as much help as she can and try to move on,” he said. She wanted to teach English to adults in the future.

Mr Reilly added his client ‘hopes when they are older her children will seek her out’. He said: “That is the one thing that keeps her going.” She no longer had custody of the children.

Judge Daly imposed a sexual harm prevention order, which will run indefinitely. The woman will remain on the sex offender register for life.

Written by Tom Seaward