Manipulated, sexually abused and hidden in plain sight…

AUSTRALIA
Daily Mail (UK)

Manipulated, sexually abused and hidden in plain sight: Victims reveal the unspeakable horror of secret Australian cult ‘The Assembly’

By EMILY CRANE

Shocking claims of abuse within a secret NSW-based religious group have come to light after former members revealed the years of torment they endured at the hands their ‘cult leader’.

Self-styled religious guru Pastor Scott Williams allegedly used his warped brand of evangelical Pentecostalism to run a secret homosexual sex ring while misusing huge amounts of member donations for his own personal use.

The claims of horrific abuse alleged to have occurred within Mr Williams’ NSW-based religious group, Christian Assemblies International (CAI), were uncovered during a four-year investigation by the ABC’s Four Corners.

Dozens of former members said bizarre sexual rituals were carried out in secret by Mr Williams, who had been given authorisation by God to sidestep biblical commands against homosexuality and train his male member to be sexually obedient.

The abuse detailed by the men and women, who until now have remained silent out of fear and shame, ranged from spiritual, financial, verbal and physical abuse to sexual abuse of adult male members.

‘I haven’t come across anything like it,’ Four Corners reporter Caro Meldrum-Hanna told Daily Mail Australia ahead of the episode going to air on Monday night.

‘Former members describe it as a cult.’

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