Jehovah’s Witnesses administrator confessed child abuse without substantial consequence, lawsuit says
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A US man serving in various administrative roles for the Jehovah’s Witnesses sexually molested a child whom he met while working for the Christian religious sect in New Orleans – then continued his career virtually unimpeded and moved to North Carolina after completing a disciplinary suspension of less than a year, he has admitted in writing and in a sworn deposition.
The stunning revelations about Joseph Fitzgerald Hall and how he has been managed by the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York that runs the Jehovah’s Witnesses are contained in a lawsuit that the abuse survivor has been pursuing against both the group and the administrator.
In a recent interview, the survivor, Barry Davis, explained that one of his main reasons for coming forward was to ensure the congregation that Hall later joined in Charlotte, North Carolina, knew the full truth about him. Hall, while testifying under oath in the course of the lawsuit, acknowledged that“there is no requirement to tell someone why you were disfellowshipped”, which is the term to describe the suspension he served over his abuse of Davis.
“They should know out there,” Davis said. “This needs to be exposed to anybody it needs to be exposed to.”
Davis, now 46, also said he shed his anonymity to support others who for years have been speaking out about child abuse within the Jehovah’s Witnesses. He contended that the evidence in his case “just kind of drives the nail in” about the reality of the issue.
In his opinion, he said: “Nothing’s changed.”
Content retrieved from: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/apr/21/jehovahs-witnesses-child-sexual-abuse.
