Anglican Church head Justin Welb resigned following a damning independent report detailing his church’s failure to act on a horrific case of abuse.
An independent review led by social worker Keith Makin into how the Church of England handled allegations of severe abuse by the late John Smyth (1941-2018) revealed that the British lawyer and lay preacher abused 85 to 100 boys in Zimbabwe and South Africa for decades.
The Iwerne Trust, a charity that organised summer youth camps, first published an abuse report in 1982. Smyth allegedly subjected boys at Winchester College, a boarding school in the UK, to sadistic beatings so severe the boys would bleed and suffer bruises for months.
Senior church officials in the UK declined to inform authorities about Smyth, who moved to Zimbabwe in 1984. There, he set up Zambesi Ministries, a private charity organising elite summer camps for boys in the country’s top schools. Smyth reportedly groomed the boys, joining them in nude showers and swims. Guide Nyachuru, 16, died in a swimming accident, for which authorities charged Smyth with culpable homicide. He then moved to South Africa in 2001 and was eventually ex-communicated in 2017, the year before he died. The Makin Review concludes that a criminal conviction would have befallen Smyth if the Anglican Church had promptly involved law enforcement.
The Archbishop of Canterbury and Smyth may be gone, but the African men he abused must live with these wrenching experiences.
Sources:
https://lawandreligionuk.com/2024/11/13/makin-review-summary-of-recommendations/
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cq6lzeel2e8o