Jehovah's Witness leader urges elders to destroy sex abuse records

Group was fined by New York case last year for withholding documents on 775 suspected child molesters within its ranks

A Jehovah's Witness leader in the United States has stoked controversy, and possibly indicted himself, by urging the sect to destroy files that could be used against it in sex abuse cases.

Shaun Bartlett, who oversees the organization's record management, reportedly told a group of elders to destroy all records detailing information about suspected child molesters within its ranks.

In a video recording of one of his sermons that was leaked in early 2018, he says: "We know that the scene of this world is changing, and we know Satan's coming after us, and he's going to go for us legally."

"We can see by the way things are shaping up. So the organization has said, 'We've run into difficulties in the past because of the records we have," he said, Raw Story reports.

Bartlett, who declined to comment on the report, can also be heard warning attendees to destroy all drafts of such documents because they are the ones that "get us in trouble," the media reports.

Last year, a California court fined the Jehovah's Witnesses' corporate non-profit Watchtower Bible & Tract Society of New York US$2,000 for refusing to release documents containing details of 775 suspected child molesters.

The organization has millions of members around the world including a particularly strong support base in the U.S. state of Philadelphia, The Philadelphia Inquirer reports.