UK’s Channel 4 Gives Evidence of Sexual Abuse by Church Member
30 October 2024 |
Channel 4, a news station from the United Kingdom, has released evidence against Dr. Donald Kelly, once a prominent member of the South England Conference of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Dr. Kelly was accused of grooming and sexually assaulting young black men, starting in the 1960s. Kelly died of cancer in November 2022. The Channel 4 investigation said that evidence and testimonies have been given to the Adventist church for over three decades, with the Metropolitan Police getting involved in 2009.
In 2021 the church initiated independent investigations into Dr. Kelly’s alleged behaviors, telling Channel 4 that they only knew about the abuse claims in late 2021. However, according to five of the victims interviewed by Channel 4, Kelly’s actions were common knowledge within the church. The victims ranged between seven and fifteen years old during the time of the alleged assault, each recounting similar tactics used by Kelly.
According to the five victims who came forward, two of whom waved their right to anonymity, the accused would use his high standing in the church to get the boys alone, following them to school, showing up at their homes, or taking them on tours to Oxford University, where he would corner them in their hotel room or “turn off the light and jumped me,” as Andrew Cadogan recalls.
Michael Smith, another survivor, remembers that rumors of Kelly’s behavior were constantly circulating, leading to a meeting with another prominent church member close to Kelly with the young boys of the church.
Smith recalls, “At the end of this meeting when everybody spoke, that’s when he said, ‘If I hear any of you saying this…you will have me to deal with.”
Many of the boys feared that Kelly would follow them home or to school. Due to Kelly’s prominence in the church community, the doctor was well known and trusted by leaders in the church and parents, often praised for his work in Adventist-linked institutions in Papua New Guinea, Jamaica, Canada, Colombia, Mexico, and Australia. He also worked in medical missionary programs across parts of Africa, including Lesotho, South Africa, Angola, Zimbabwe, and Sierra Leone.
Channel 4 has done extensive research into the allegations, showing timelines and statistics into the claims of assault and sexual abuse, including evidence in 2020 when a lead pastor of a UK Adventist church was told that Kelly was a “predatory pedophile.” The evidence collected goes back nearly three decades and spans across his time in the UK and his missionary work.
The South England Conference of the Seventh-day Adventist Church has not released the findings of their independent investigation, but has released a statement detailing their investigation into the reports after being informed in 2021. The statement says it “recognizes the appalling and lasting harm that Donald Kelly caused, and extends its deepest and heartfelt sympathy to all who have been affected by his abusive conduct.”