Zimbabwe abuse victims take legal action against Church of England

By Cathy Newman

His barbaric beatings of more than a hundred boys and young men in three countries were covered up for decades.

Now Channel 4 News has learnt that his victims in Zimbabwe are taking legal action against the Church of England to get answers and compensation.

Scale of abuse

Sixteen-year-old Guide Nyachuru attended one of Smyth’s Christian camps in Zimbabwe in 1992. He never came back alive.

We first spoke to Guide’s sister, Edith, in 2017 for a Channel 4 News investigation exposing John Smyth’s abuse. Now she’s joining with seven of Smyth’s Zimbabwean victims to demand compensation from the Church of England.

An official review by Keith Makin last year accused the Church of England of a cover-up, saying leading figures could have stopped Smyth continuing his reign of abuse in the UK in the early 1980s, before he left for Zimbabwe and South Africa.

A secret report by an Anglican clergyman, Mark Ruston, in 1982 gave a detailed account of the beatings meted out by Smyth. But rather than face justice, Smyth was allowed to leave for Zimbabwe in 1984.

Edith Nyachuru told us that she believed her brother would still be alive if Smyth had been stopped in the UK.

Edith Nyachuru

‘We were forced to be naked’

When Channel 4 News spoke to Rocky Leanders nearly a decade ago, he had no idea about the scale of Smyth’s abuse.

Now he’s furious after learning how the Church covered it up.
He told us: “I’m now angrier, angry at a much wider, bigger group of people that should have known better.”

Both Rocky and his brother endured barbaric beatings from Smyth at one of his Christian camps. They were left bruised and in pain.

Smyth also insisted on the boys being naked at the summer camps.

“We weren’t encouraged to be naked, we were forced to be,” he said. “It’s as simple as that.”

Smyth would watch the boys showering, and he too would be naked.

Rocky Leanders

“I’m now angrier, angry at a much wider, bigger group of people that should have known better.”
– Rocky Leanders

Wait for independent review

In 1995, Smyth was charged with culpable homicide over Guide’s death, but the prosecution unravelled. Smyth died in 2018, depriving his victims of answers.

Makin recommended an independent review into Smyth’s abuse in Zimbabwe. But, nearly a year later, that hasn’t happened.

“Maybe they’re looking down on us as a third world country.”
– Edith Nyachuru

Edith told us she believes the Church was still covering up the truth now.

“I think the Zimbabwean victims have been treated unfairly,” she said, adding: “Maybe they’re looking down on us as a third world country.”

Rocky told us bluntly that the Church – in failing to stop Smyth in the UK – was “ultimately responsible for at least one death and many, many, many other countless trauma to young boys and young adults and it’s just despicable”.

He added: “It’s disgusting.”

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, quit after the Makin review accused him personally of failing to do enough to stop Smyth.

Law firm Leigh Day is making a legal claim against the Cambridge church, St Andrew the Great, formerly the round church, whose vicar compiled the 1982 report.

The Zimbabwean victims and their families still struggle with the legacy of Smyth’s barbaric abuse.

Rocky told us the “emotional toll is now significant” and that he had lost trust in religion – and humanity as a whole – because “people who were in a position of trust have abused that trust”.

Guide’s family are still haunted by his death. Edith said she believed Smyth was “rotting in hell”.

The new Archbishop of Canterbury, Sarah Mullally, was announced yesterday. Nearly a year after Justin Welby quit – leaving the organisation he led in crisis – she will immediately face troubling questions about the way victims have been treated.

“We weren’t encouraged to be naked, we were forced to be.”
– Rocky Leanders

A Church of England spokesperson said: “We are truly sorry for the horrendous abuse carried out by John Smyth and the lifelong effects on survivors, both here and in Africa. The Church in South Africa has already carried out its own review. We have been in contact with the Church in Zimbabwe and offered to support and contribute financially to any review that it might choose to undertake, building on the review undertaken by David Coltart in 1993.

“The Church of England is working through the recommendations in its own learning lessons review. The National Safeguarding Team has taken out complaints under the Clergy Discipline Measure against a number of clergy criticised in the review. That process is ongoing.”

A spokesperson for St Andrew the Great Church in Cambridge said:  “We are full of sorrow about the horrendous abuse carried out by John Smyth which has had lifelong effects on survivors, both here and in Africa, and that he was not stopped sooner.

“While we are unable to comment on the specifics of this claim, we take the safety and wellbeing of our congregation, staff and volunteers extremely seriously and follow Church of England’s Safeguarding Policy and Practice Guidance designed to protect vulnerable people.

“If anyone has been affected by this issue and wants to talk to someone independently, please call the Safe Spaces helpline on 0300 303 1056 or visit safespacesenglandandwales.org.uk. Further support is also available via contacts on our safeguarding webpage.”

Source: Channel 4 (UK)