Reporting the Truth.
Restoring the Church.

By Jessica Morris

 Richard Jones attended what is now known as Horizon Church, then called Christian Growth Centre, where church leaders learned of abuse allegations in 1990 but did not report them to police. (TRR Graphic)

A pastor at one of Australia’s largest Pentecostal churches learned that a church volunteer had sexually assaulted a 10-year-old girl in the congregation, but he never told the police.

His silence allowed the volunteer Richard Jones, now 88, an extra 40 years of freedom before justice finally caught up.

Jones recently pleaded guilty to two counts of sexually assaulting a child under 16. He faces up to 14 years in jail per count, making it likely he will die in prison.

The unnamed victim told the Sutherland Local Court in Sydney’s southern suburbs that her mother reported the incidents to Horizon Church, then Christian Growth Centre, in 1990 when she was 16. Jones was a greeter and a friend of the girl’s family. Senior Pastor John Wilkinson, now deceased, did not file a police report, allowing Jones to move 2,400 miles across the continent to Perth, where he started a new life.

After re-reporting the incidents to Horizon Church in 2024, the former congregant is finally seeing justice. According to news reports, she is in her 50s and has not been able to afford therapy to deal with her trauma.

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Horizon Church, a multisite Pentecostal congregation in Australia and home church of former Prime Minister Scott Morrison, recently acknowledged failures in its predecessor church’s handling of a child sexual abuse allegation dating back to 1990. (Photo courtesy of News.com.au)

“People wonder why now? Why did I go to the police after all these years?” The victim told news.com.au. “The answer is I have been protecting him my whole life by not saying anything.”

Once Horizon Church learned of the crimes, two years ago, it immediately informed Sutherland police. Jones was arrested and accepted a plea deal. He will be sentenced June 12.

The news has received national attention in Australia because Horizon is the home church of Scott Morrison, the country’s first Pentecostal prime minister. He held office from 2018 to 2022. Scott Morrison meets with Donald Trump during a public event.(Photo courtesy of Facebook)

The multisite church operates in three countries and is a member of the Australian Christian Churches (ACC), a network of independent Pentecostal churches. In a statement to the media, Horizon officials called their earlier response “deeply regretful,” and have praised the courage of the victim in coming forward.

“The people that were in leadership positions at Christian Growth Centre at the time are not involved with what is now Horizon Church,” the statement said.

“Consistent with our child safety policies and procedures, Horizon Church notified police about this matter when it first came to the attention of our current leadership in 2024. We commend the victim for her bravery in coming forward. 

In an exclusive with news.com.au, the victim provided court documents describing how Jones assaulted her multiple times over a two-year period and continued to groom her. Each assault, she said, took place at a sleepover at Jones’ house, with other children in the building. She said he would seek her out and take her downstairs, where he assaulted her.

When the victim was 11, Jones, who was then in his 40s, allegedly told her, “I have missed you” and “I love you.”

When she was 16, he thanked the victim, saying “You helped me through a very difficult time.”Richard Jones and his wife Jane. (Photo courtesy of news.com.au)

The victim told her mother about the assaults that same year, after realizing what happened was wrong. “I didn’t want to live anymore,” she said in her court statement. “I didn’t feel like I deserved to be happy and that I welcomed everything bad in my life because I felt like that is what it was meant to be like.”

The victim’s mother, upon hearing those words, immediately reported the abuse to Wilkinson, the Horizon pastor. Court documents state that instead of going to the police, Wilkinson dealt with it in-house – literally. He called a meeting at his Sutherland home with Jones, the victim, and her mother and discussed what occurred. Jones admitted to assaulting the child.

As a result, Jones moved across the country to Perth. According to church and police records, nothing  was ever reported.

After Jones was arrested in 2024, his attorney Ian Lloyd argued that he needed to remain out of full-time custody because he was the primary carer of his wife, Janet, who passed away in April this year.

The victim, however, wants Jones to face the consequences of his actions.

“He has been able to live his life without anyone knowing what he has done and who he was,” she said.

“I’m sad I didn’t have the strength to do it sooner but I didn’t want him to die without the world knowing and him facing the consequences, whatever they are.”

A letter of apology

Earlier this year, Jones penned a letter of apology to the victim. He called his actions a crime.

“I acknowledge that I’m the source of your distress and the profound and lasting harm it has caused,” he wrote. “I should have been the adult in the room protecting you and providing a safe place for you, but I failed you.”Richard Jones, 88, recently pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting a child. (Photo courtesy of News.com.au)

Jones also went to great lengths in his apology to describe the accountability measures put in place after their meeting with Wilkinson in 1990. He wrote that the victim’s mother did not want to go to the police. He promised to move way, never talk to the girl again, and added that he had started seeing a psychologist. Jones also claimed that he offered to pay for a year of psychiatric support for the victim, but her mother declined.

He then turned the spotlight on himself and discussed how he developed a “deep self-loathing” after learning more about consent from his psychologist. He called the legal process “financially crippling” and claimed it cost him $100,000.

Despite Jones’ admission of guilt in that letter, he never turned himself in to the police.

“A national tragedy.”

Australian churches are subject to rigorous legal protocols since the Australian Government created the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in January 2013. 

It was formed in response to mounting claims about childhood sexual assault occurring in institutions, predominantly in religious settings and schools. Multiple denominations took part in the Royal Commission, including the Catholic Church, the Anglican Church, The Salvation Army, and ACC, the Pentecostal network. 

In total, 9,000 survivor accounts helped to inform the commission’s final recommendations, stipulating that churches must partake in rigorous checks, reporting, redress, and accountability measures. The report called childhood sexual abuse “a national tragedy” that occurred over generations.

As a result of the Royal Commission, a national redress plan was implemented for survivors who were harmed before July 1, 2018. This offers victims of institutional abuse psychological support, financial payouts, and an apology from the perpetrator or institution. Horizon Church joined the plan in 2025.

Jessica Morris is a music journalist, podcaster and author based in Melbourne, Australia.

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