Craig Fulton – failure to report?

Dear all,

First and foremost, I want to warn every reader of the contents of this letter. The topic of child sexual abuse and sexual abuse, hereafter referred to as CSA and SA respectfully, will be covered. I feel that these topics are too important to ignore, however if you do not have the mental space for this right now, take a moment and look after yourself. Come back if you feel up to it at a later point, otherwise delete it.

I did not want to write this letter. I hoped that there would be no need for such a situation, however through the actions of the overseer, Craig Fulton, I feel that there is no other option. On 18/06/2023 at 20:39, I sent the following text to Craig Fulton. 

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Dear Craig,

It has come to my attention that several serious issues are being ignored in Ireland within the truth. The most serious of these are your dealings with cases of sexual abuse and child sexual abuse.

As you will be aware, under the Children First Act 2015, you are a mandated reporter under section 2 and Schedule 2 paragraph 15(g): “member of the clergy (howsoever described) or pastoral care worker (howsoever described) of a church or other religious community”

The responsibility of a mandated reporter is as such:

“Mandated persons have two main legal obligations under the Children First Act 2015: 

To report harm of children, above a defined threshold, to Tusla;
To assist Tusla, if requested, in assessing a concern which has been the subject of a mandated report.” 

In Northern Ireland, under the Criminal Law Act 1967,
“Where a person has committed [a relevant offence], any other person who, knowing or believing him to be guilty of the offence or of some [other relevant offence], does without lawful authority or reasonable excuse any act with intent to impede his apprehension or prosecution, shall be guilty of an offence.” 

The law is clear. You are legally obliged to assist the law in the protection of children. This means that the moment that you hear a report of child sexual abuse, whether you believe it to be true or not, you must report it to the authorities. That I have to spell this out to you disappoints me, however you have clearly shown that you feel that the law can be ignored. Therefore, if I do not hear of reasonable evidence that you have fulfilled your legal obligations within one (1) week, I will share this message al and the context behind it with the internet, with as many friends in Ireland as possible and with as many who have left as possible. This is not an empty threat. I will do this.

Yours sincerely,

LM and JV.

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The week is now up. Craig has unfortunately not provided reasonable evidence that he has reported known evidence to the appropriate authorities, nor have I heard reports of his actions in attempting the aforementioned task. I will therefore be true to my word and give the context of this message to you.

To the best of my knowledge, Craig Fulton, having received from an alleged perpetrator a spoken declaration of guilt, declined to give a statement to the local authorities about said evidence and has allowed the alleged perpetrator to attend local missions and bible studies.

Having heard of a further alleged perpetrator, Craig did not fulfil his responsibility as a mandated reporter to bring this to local authorities. This alleged perpetrator has had no consequences and is still allowed to attend all gatherings.

When John Johnston was removed from the work due to at least two allegations of abuse, there was no communication surrounding the reasons why this happened. This has meant that some people supporting John may have been put at risk through a lack of open and honest communication from those in responsible positions. John is also, as an alleged perpetrator, still permitted to attend all gatherings.

John Gunn, accused of allegations of abuse in Spain and Chile, was turned away from Carrick convention last week when some friends heard of the allegations from those close to a victim and approached Craig to request that he not be allowed to attend the convention. Craig agreed, being in the presence of 5 other individuals and John Gunn was turned away. No communication surrounding his absences was provided during the rest of the convention. Further sources determined that there were plans to send John Gunn to Chile for special meetings earlier in the year, however those in Chile refused to allow John Gunn back. It is therefore likely that Craig has known about this situation for an extended period of time.

In general, Craig and other workers on the Island of Ireland have been allowing alleged perpetrators to continue their lives with little to no consequence. When alleged perpetrators have been discovered, there has been little to no communication surrounding the issues, at the most, the individual has just been removed without further comment. This is unacceptable. Hiding those accused of CSA and SA, is allowing those individuals to have access to the vulnerable, creating the potential for more abuse.

Yours sincerely,

LM and JV