International Journal of Cultic Studies ■ Vol. 8, 2017 21
mother again, who was one of more than 80
members to die in the compound’s fire in 1993.
Koresh was aware that these court proceedings
had exposed some of his illegal pedophilic
activities, and this evidence reappeared in an
extensive, multiday exposé printed by the local
town’s newspaper
31F
32 immediately prior to the
March 1993 raid initiated by the Bureau of
Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (BATF).
Subsequently, in 1995, before a congressional
hearing on Waco, Kiri Jewel (by then 14 years
old) provided detailed and powerful testimony
about the sexual abuse she and other girls
suffered at the hands of Koresh.
32F
33 The
allegations first presented in a family case,
therefore, involving the custody of Kiri Jewel,
and her subsequent elaboration of those
allegations, has played a significant role in
interpreting Koresh’s refusal to surrender to law
enforcement, and his subsequent fiery death. We
hypothesize that Koresh, as a publicly exposed
pedophile, realized that, if he were to fall into
the hands of law enforcement, then he would
face significant jail time. Consequently, suicide
was preferable because it allowed him to appear
(to the public and to his followers) as a religious
martyr fulfilling his own prophecies.
A third example of a family-court decision
having wide-ranging implications for a
controversial alternative religion involves the
Lord Justice Alan Ward’s decision in the United
Kingdom concerning the Children of God/The
Family.
33F
34 The custody case was between the
mother of ST, who was a member of The
Family, and the child’s grandmother and mother
of ST’s mother, who feared for the child’s
32 Mark England and Darlene McCormick, 1993 (March 1), “An
Incident Involving Vernon Howell and a Young Girl Sparks Marc
Breault to Leave,” Waco Tribune-Herald, 7A.
33 Statement of Kiri Jewell, Resident at Mount Carmel,
accompanied by her father, David Jewell in Activities of Federal
Law Enforcement Agencies Toward the Branch Davidians (Part 1),
Joint Hearings Before the Subcommittee on Crime of the
Committee on the Judiciary, House of Representatives, and the
Subcommittee on National Security, International Affairs, and
Criminal Justice of the Committee on Government Reform and
Oversight, One Hundred Fourth Congress (July 19, 1995), pp.
147–155. For a former member’s doubts about aspects of her
testimony, see Thibodeau, 1999, pp. 339–340.
34 W 42 In the High Court of Justice, 1995.
welfare growing up in a controversial group
rumoured to allow adult/child and child/child
sex, severe corporal punishment, poor education,
and a socially closed environment. Ward
decided that the mother could retain custody of
her child, although with significant restrictions
and restraints laid upon her by the court. The
decision, however, was a Pyrrhic victory for The
Family, because Ward’s published decision
contained detailed discussions about the group’s
history of various forms of child abuse.
In the words of a prominent Australian barrister,
Ian Freckelton,
34F
35 the Ward decision “is highly
significant as arguably the most judicial analysis
of the practices” of any such alternative
religion.
35F
36 As Freckelton summarized,
It is one of the most remarkable
decisions of the Family Division of the
High Court in terms of its methodology
in grappling with some complex and
conflicting rights and obligations and
declining to grapple with others. Lord
Justice Ward’s unashamed ultimatum to
the group [which were
35 Freckelton had a history with The Family, dating back at least to
1992. In that year, Community Services Victoria (CSV) in
Australia and their counterparts in New South Wales raided Family
homes, and in Victoria a children’s court magistrate placed the
children in CSV’s temporary custody. Parents quickly appealed the
custody decision, and a few days later the issue appeared before
the Supreme Court. On behalf of CSV:
Dr. Freckleton told the Supreme Court the state’s case
would include evidence from a child psychiatrist, and
overseas expert on the sect, police officers who had
investigated the group, and former members.
‘Those persons will say that they harbor the most serious
of concerns if those children are retuned even for an
extremely short period in the community,’ he told the
court.
‘They’ll say that there is a possibility of significant
emotional and physical misfortune befalling these children
immediately.’ (Herald Sun, 2013)
But in a landmark ruling, the court ordered that the children be
reunited with their families until a future court hearing (Elissa
Hunt, 2013 (March 4), “Children Snatched From Their Homes in
Dramatic Raids on the Children of God Sect in 1990s Trials,”
Herald Sun [Australia]. Available from
https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/h/1jaho2xy9jxrn/?&v=c&th=13d
35d04711b5c9c
36 Ian Freckelton, 1998 (April), “‘Cults’, Calamities, and
Psychological Consequences.” Psychiatry, Psychology and Law, 5,
13–14.
mother again, who was one of more than 80
members to die in the compound’s fire in 1993.
Koresh was aware that these court proceedings
had exposed some of his illegal pedophilic
activities, and this evidence reappeared in an
extensive, multiday exposé printed by the local
town’s newspaper
31F
32 immediately prior to the
March 1993 raid initiated by the Bureau of
Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (BATF).
Subsequently, in 1995, before a congressional
hearing on Waco, Kiri Jewel (by then 14 years
old) provided detailed and powerful testimony
about the sexual abuse she and other girls
suffered at the hands of Koresh.
32F
33 The
allegations first presented in a family case,
therefore, involving the custody of Kiri Jewel,
and her subsequent elaboration of those
allegations, has played a significant role in
interpreting Koresh’s refusal to surrender to law
enforcement, and his subsequent fiery death. We
hypothesize that Koresh, as a publicly exposed
pedophile, realized that, if he were to fall into
the hands of law enforcement, then he would
face significant jail time. Consequently, suicide
was preferable because it allowed him to appear
(to the public and to his followers) as a religious
martyr fulfilling his own prophecies.
A third example of a family-court decision
having wide-ranging implications for a
controversial alternative religion involves the
Lord Justice Alan Ward’s decision in the United
Kingdom concerning the Children of God/The
Family.
33F
34 The custody case was between the
mother of ST, who was a member of The
Family, and the child’s grandmother and mother
of ST’s mother, who feared for the child’s
32 Mark England and Darlene McCormick, 1993 (March 1), “An
Incident Involving Vernon Howell and a Young Girl Sparks Marc
Breault to Leave,” Waco Tribune-Herald, 7A.
33 Statement of Kiri Jewell, Resident at Mount Carmel,
accompanied by her father, David Jewell in Activities of Federal
Law Enforcement Agencies Toward the Branch Davidians (Part 1),
Joint Hearings Before the Subcommittee on Crime of the
Committee on the Judiciary, House of Representatives, and the
Subcommittee on National Security, International Affairs, and
Criminal Justice of the Committee on Government Reform and
Oversight, One Hundred Fourth Congress (July 19, 1995), pp.
147–155. For a former member’s doubts about aspects of her
testimony, see Thibodeau, 1999, pp. 339–340.
34 W 42 In the High Court of Justice, 1995.
welfare growing up in a controversial group
rumoured to allow adult/child and child/child
sex, severe corporal punishment, poor education,
and a socially closed environment. Ward
decided that the mother could retain custody of
her child, although with significant restrictions
and restraints laid upon her by the court. The
decision, however, was a Pyrrhic victory for The
Family, because Ward’s published decision
contained detailed discussions about the group’s
history of various forms of child abuse.
In the words of a prominent Australian barrister,
Ian Freckelton,
34F
35 the Ward decision “is highly
significant as arguably the most judicial analysis
of the practices” of any such alternative
religion.
35F
36 As Freckelton summarized,
It is one of the most remarkable
decisions of the Family Division of the
High Court in terms of its methodology
in grappling with some complex and
conflicting rights and obligations and
declining to grapple with others. Lord
Justice Ward’s unashamed ultimatum to
the group [which were
35 Freckelton had a history with The Family, dating back at least to
1992. In that year, Community Services Victoria (CSV) in
Australia and their counterparts in New South Wales raided Family
homes, and in Victoria a children’s court magistrate placed the
children in CSV’s temporary custody. Parents quickly appealed the
custody decision, and a few days later the issue appeared before
the Supreme Court. On behalf of CSV:
Dr. Freckleton told the Supreme Court the state’s case
would include evidence from a child psychiatrist, and
overseas expert on the sect, police officers who had
investigated the group, and former members.
‘Those persons will say that they harbor the most serious
of concerns if those children are retuned even for an
extremely short period in the community,’ he told the
court.
‘They’ll say that there is a possibility of significant
emotional and physical misfortune befalling these children
immediately.’ (Herald Sun, 2013)
But in a landmark ruling, the court ordered that the children be
reunited with their families until a future court hearing (Elissa
Hunt, 2013 (March 4), “Children Snatched From Their Homes in
Dramatic Raids on the Children of God Sect in 1990s Trials,”
Herald Sun [Australia]. Available from
https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/h/1jaho2xy9jxrn/?&v=c&th=13d
35d04711b5c9c
36 Ian Freckelton, 1998 (April), “‘Cults’, Calamities, and
Psychological Consequences.” Psychiatry, Psychology and Law, 5,
13–14.
