Religious group ordered to pay $35M to sexual abuse victim

Following an alleged case of

According to the Christian Post, some leaders knew about the crime and decided to cover-up it by temporarily expelling him until he repented instead of reporting it to the authorities.

This made a jury in Montana to rule against the religious group after two women, aged 32 and 21, both sued the religious group for not reporting their abuser to the authorities.

Sexual abuse by Jehovah's Witnesses

Reacting to the ruling, Neil Smith, the attorney for the 21-year-old woman, said that he hopes this teaches churches to report abuse.

"Hopefully that message is loud enough that this will cause the organization to change its priorities in a way that they will begin prioritizing the safety of children so that other children aren't abused in the future," he said.

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Reportedly, this decision will be reviewed by a judge as the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York is hoping for the guilty verdict to be appealed.

This is not the first time the religious group has faced this kind of lawsuit. Reportedly, there have been dozens of similar lawsuits against the religious sect in the past decade.

"It appears to be a widespread issue within the Jehovah's Witnesses," said attorney Devin Storey. "Less is being reported than should be," he added.

The Associated Press reports hat Storey's law firm has handled a lot of these cases.