International Journal of Cultic Studies ■ Vol. 8, 2017 23
criminal cases, a person over the age of 14 is
presumed to have the capacity to testify.
40F
41
Opposing counsel, however, may challenge the
capacity of the witness. At that point, if the
judge is satisfied that an issue of capacity may
exist, then the court will conduct an inquiry to
determine whether the child is capable of
understanding and responding to questions.
41F
42 If
the children are to testify while they are under
the age of 14, then the first issue the court will
deal with is the child’s capacity. In criminal
cases, the evidence need not be sworn as long as
the witness is able to “understand and respond to
questions.”
42F
43 If the child is allowed to testify,
then the judge or jurors or both will consider the
testimony for its weight, taking into
consideration the credibility and almost certainly
the age of the witness.
Child sexual-abuse accounts involving children
in cults contain all of the disturbing material that
exists in cases where religion is not a factor, but
the religious dimensions often add elements to
some claims that almost make them surreal.
Perpetrators in secular and religious contexts can
groom children, threaten them if they tell, and
even involve them in abusive actions against
themselves or against other children. Religious
contexts, however, also allow children (and even
their parents) to be blindly trusting to those who
have religious status, and subsequently can lead
to children fearing reprisals by a supernatural
being for disclosing. Children may claim to
have been abused in ritual settings, often
involving close relatives. These allegations
are so unusual and so damning if true that
the courts must pay great attention to the
conditions under which the children related
41 Canada Evidence Act, RSC 1985, c C-5 s 16.1(1).
42 See the Canada Evidence Act, RSC 1985, c C-5 s 16.1. For civil
suits in Canada, the relevant provincial evidence act determines the
competency of child-witness testimony. The Alberta Evidence Act,
for example, states that the evidence of a child must be
corroborated, and if the child does not understand the oath, then
the evidence of children over the age of 14 years of age may be
received if the child possesses a sufficient intelligence to justify the
reception of the evidence and understands the duty of speaking the
truth (Alberta Evidence Act, RSA 2000, c A-18 s 19).
43 Canada Evidence Act, RSC 1985, c C-5 s 16.1.
the accounts to authorities or caregivers, and
more than one case has fallen apart because
of unprofessional interviewing techniques
by law enforcement or bad therapeutic
techniques used by social services
personnel. In sum, courts must determine
whether adults may have influenced
children’s memories or (potential)
testimonies.
The McMartin case in California provides a
stark example of the issues surrounding child
witnesses and collaborative evidence. In 1983,
Judy Johnson (who was a mother with a young
child in the McMartin Preschool) reported to
police “that her son’s bottom was red and that he
had spoken of a man named Ray.”
43F
44 (Johnson
died of an alcohol-related illness in 1986, having
been diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic a
year earlier.)
44F
45 Police then contacted 200
parents who had children at the facility,
indicating in their letters that “they were
investigating oral sex and sodomy” that might
have occurred at the preschool, and which would
have involved children. Extraordinary stories
poured in, and subsequently most of the 400
children were interviewed by “an administrator
turned therapist” Kee MacFarlane.
45F
46 On March
24, 1984, police arrested four members of the
Buckey family who were involved with the
school (Ray Buckey, his mother Peggy
McMartin Buckey, his sister Peggy Ann
Buckey, and his grandmother Virginia
McMartin), plus three teachers on a variety of
child abuse charges.
46F
47 In January 1986, a new
district attorney dropped the charges against
everyone except Ray and his mother, and
pursued charges related to lewd and lascivious
conduct with minors under 14. The resultant trial
against them “was the longest and costliest
criminal trial in the United States” up until that
44 Associated Press, 1990 (January 19), “No Conviction in Three-
Year Pre-school Molestation Trial,” Edmonton Journal, B7.
45 Margaret Carlson, 1990 (January 29), “Six Years of Trial by
Torture,” Time, p. 32.
46 Carlson, 1990.
47 Carlson, 1990 Associated Press, 1990.
criminal cases, a person over the age of 14 is
presumed to have the capacity to testify.
40F
41
Opposing counsel, however, may challenge the
capacity of the witness. At that point, if the
judge is satisfied that an issue of capacity may
exist, then the court will conduct an inquiry to
determine whether the child is capable of
understanding and responding to questions.
41F
42 If
the children are to testify while they are under
the age of 14, then the first issue the court will
deal with is the child’s capacity. In criminal
cases, the evidence need not be sworn as long as
the witness is able to “understand and respond to
questions.”
42F
43 If the child is allowed to testify,
then the judge or jurors or both will consider the
testimony for its weight, taking into
consideration the credibility and almost certainly
the age of the witness.
Child sexual-abuse accounts involving children
in cults contain all of the disturbing material that
exists in cases where religion is not a factor, but
the religious dimensions often add elements to
some claims that almost make them surreal.
Perpetrators in secular and religious contexts can
groom children, threaten them if they tell, and
even involve them in abusive actions against
themselves or against other children. Religious
contexts, however, also allow children (and even
their parents) to be blindly trusting to those who
have religious status, and subsequently can lead
to children fearing reprisals by a supernatural
being for disclosing. Children may claim to
have been abused in ritual settings, often
involving close relatives. These allegations
are so unusual and so damning if true that
the courts must pay great attention to the
conditions under which the children related
41 Canada Evidence Act, RSC 1985, c C-5 s 16.1(1).
42 See the Canada Evidence Act, RSC 1985, c C-5 s 16.1. For civil
suits in Canada, the relevant provincial evidence act determines the
competency of child-witness testimony. The Alberta Evidence Act,
for example, states that the evidence of a child must be
corroborated, and if the child does not understand the oath, then
the evidence of children over the age of 14 years of age may be
received if the child possesses a sufficient intelligence to justify the
reception of the evidence and understands the duty of speaking the
truth (Alberta Evidence Act, RSA 2000, c A-18 s 19).
43 Canada Evidence Act, RSC 1985, c C-5 s 16.1.
the accounts to authorities or caregivers, and
more than one case has fallen apart because
of unprofessional interviewing techniques
by law enforcement or bad therapeutic
techniques used by social services
personnel. In sum, courts must determine
whether adults may have influenced
children’s memories or (potential)
testimonies.
The McMartin case in California provides a
stark example of the issues surrounding child
witnesses and collaborative evidence. In 1983,
Judy Johnson (who was a mother with a young
child in the McMartin Preschool) reported to
police “that her son’s bottom was red and that he
had spoken of a man named Ray.”
43F
44 (Johnson
died of an alcohol-related illness in 1986, having
been diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic a
year earlier.)
44F
45 Police then contacted 200
parents who had children at the facility,
indicating in their letters that “they were
investigating oral sex and sodomy” that might
have occurred at the preschool, and which would
have involved children. Extraordinary stories
poured in, and subsequently most of the 400
children were interviewed by “an administrator
turned therapist” Kee MacFarlane.
45F
46 On March
24, 1984, police arrested four members of the
Buckey family who were involved with the
school (Ray Buckey, his mother Peggy
McMartin Buckey, his sister Peggy Ann
Buckey, and his grandmother Virginia
McMartin), plus three teachers on a variety of
child abuse charges.
46F
47 In January 1986, a new
district attorney dropped the charges against
everyone except Ray and his mother, and
pursued charges related to lewd and lascivious
conduct with minors under 14. The resultant trial
against them “was the longest and costliest
criminal trial in the United States” up until that
44 Associated Press, 1990 (January 19), “No Conviction in Three-
Year Pre-school Molestation Trial,” Edmonton Journal, B7.
45 Margaret Carlson, 1990 (January 29), “Six Years of Trial by
Torture,” Time, p. 32.
46 Carlson, 1990.
47 Carlson, 1990 Associated Press, 1990.
