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Pastor Neil Hetrick General Secretary Assemblies of God in New Zealand Auckland Dear Mr Hetrick In April of this year*1 my solicitor contacted your organisation to advise you of my allegation that Frank Houston sexually abused me in 1972, when I was a teenager and a member of the AoG church in Lower Hutt and Houston was your General Superintendent. Your response was to conduct an internal investigation, which appears to have been motivated by the desire to discredit my allegations, rather than to seek the truth. Despite several offers to assist you with your enquiries, you have refused to communicate with me directly and declined to discuss my version of what occurred. I also conducted an investigation into the illicit actions of Houston while he was both a Pastor and General Superintendent of the NZ AoG and I'm sure that you will be well aware of what I uncovered. The action of both the Australian and NZ AoG to ban Houston from the ministry for "Serious moral failure" is evidence enough that other allegations have been made and that you had sufficiently established their authenticity to justify taking such action against him. Several Pastors and prominent church members past and present, in Australia, New Zealand and Canada and the UK assisted me with my enquiries. This investigation confirmed both Houston's history of sexual abuse and the consistent attempts to cover-up his behaviour. I understand that this sorry history has already contributed to at least one church in NZ ceasing their affiliation with the AoG and that others are contemplating taking similar action. I am writing directly to you now to question your own role in what happened to me. At the time Houston abused me, you were also a Pastor of the Lower Hutt AoG and you had certainly met me on several occasions. At that time, did you not think it unusual that a teenage member of the church, who had been baptised in the church (by Pastor Uren), suddenly stopped attending and then wrote a formal letter of resignation? Did you not feel compelled in your pastoral duty to investigate why this occurred, or at least ensure that one of the other Pastors made such an enquiry? Perhaps there was no more desire back then to uncover the truth about Houston than there appears to be now, thirty years later. You have already been advised of the specific nature of Houston's sexual abuse and I will not go into the details again here. I admit that after thirty years, my initial recollection of the events may have been inaccurate in relation to the precise dates and peripheral circumstances. However, I can assure you that the abuse did occur as I have documented, when I was with Houston in Wanganui in 1972. Since my solicitor contacted your organization in April, you appear to have focused your responses on challenging the precise details of my allegations, presumably to dissuade me from pursuing effective legal action. However, in following such a course you may have overlooked the very significant and long-term impact that this experience has had on my life. The negative forces that were unleashed by the experience were extremely powerful and I can assure you that they endure to this day. While the NZ Police have been sympathetic to me and my allegations, they have advised that due to Houston's age, health and time away from New Zealand, it is unlikely that he could be extradited to face criminal charges. Based on your response to date, I sense that any compensation or even reconciliation and apology from your organization, appears highly unlikely. Ironically, had this abuse occurred in the Catholic Church, at least they would have put in place internal procedures to investigate the allegations and enable both parties to give their evidence before an independent arbitrator. However, it appears the Assemblies of God remain a closed and insular organisation seeking only to protect your image and finances. Genuine Christian compassion and a duty of care to your members appear to be absent from your mission. Based on the information that I have received, I am convinced that Houston has left a trail of victims behind him over his long career of abuse. I suspect that many of these victims are in NZ and like myself, were probably associated with your Church at one time. I believe that it is important that other victims come forward and I am hoping that my actions will create a climate where it is easier for them to do so. If there are others who are willing to speak out, it may make a difference to the eventual outcome of this terrible breach of trust and respect in a Minister of God. I would be grateful if you would at least talk with me about these events and work with me to uncover the truth. If not, I intend to continue my pursuit for justice in every way possible. Maybe there is someone else who will succeed with a prosecution either in NZ or Australia. Based on the history of your organisation's response to my allegations and in the interests of ensuring full public disclosure, I have copied this letter to several interested parties and to those who have helped me in this matter. Once again, I want to extend an offer to assist your organisation with your enquiries to uncover the truth about this evil man. While the AoG may have been involved in attempts to cover-up Houston's behaviour in the past and this course of action may have allowed further abuse to occur, I accept that we can all be guilty of such errors of judgment. However, it is never too late for the truth. You are in a position to help me and perhaps many other victims seeking a sense of closure, justice and healing from these sad events. Yours sincerely Peter Fowler 27th November 2002 P.O. Box 1448, Potts Point, NSW 1335, AUSTRALIA, Tel: +61 419 774 800
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