\n<\/p>\n
HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) \u2014 For over 30 years, Edith Nyachuru has carried the weight of her brother\u2019s unexplained death.<\/p>\n
At 16, Guide Nyachuru’s life was cut short at a Christian camp in Zimbabwe in 1992. Guide was one of over 100 boys and young men abused by British barrister and lay preacher John Smyth at camps spanning Britain, Zimbabwe and South Africa in what became one of the Church of England\u2019s darkest scandals.<\/p>\n
It led to the resignation of Justin Welby as Archbishop of Canterbury last year.<\/p>\n
Now, as the church prepares to install its first female Archbishop of Canterbury<\/a> and some Zimbabwean victims pursue legal action in the U.K., the Nyachuru family hopes the church and justice system will finally bring answers.<\/p>\n \u201cThe struggle for justice is real,\u201d said Edith. \u201cThe most painful thing is we as a family don\u2019t know how he died, what kind of pain he endured.\u201d<\/p>\n Her 87-year-old mother, Rachel, and six Zimbabwean men who allege physical, sexual, psychological and spiritual abuse by Smyth, initiated a legal claim this month.<\/p>\n The claim accuses the Church of England of negligence for its inaction when abuse was first uncovered decades ago. Their attorneys, U.K law firm Leigh Day, cite the St. Andrew the Great parish in Cambridge, where a vicar\u2019s 1982 report found evidence of abuses by Smyth at Christian camps. They are demanding a \u201cfull apology,\u201d access to church documents, compensation and an independent review.<\/p>\n A trail of abuse<\/p>\n Smyth ran Christian holiday camps for elite British schoolboys to groom them for leadership roles in church and society. He relocated to Zimbabwe in 1984, establishing similar camps there.<\/p>\n The 1982 report, compiled by then parish Vicar Mark Ruston in Cambridge, detailed beatings lasting \u201cmany years.\u201d One victim could “feel the blood spattering on my legs.\u201d Ruston described \u201cbruised and scored buttocks\u201d months after a beating, noting \u201csuppressed masochistic sexual activity\u201d and forced nakedness \u201cto increase humility.\u201d<\/p>\n Although Ruston’s report admitted the acts were criminal, police were not informed, a decision lawyers say enabled further abuse in Africa.<\/p>\n In Zimbabwe, alarmed parents approached lawyer David Coltart, who compiled a damning report in 1993.<\/p>\n Coltart described beatings, boys forbidden underwear, forced into nude night swims, Smyth leading a prayer naked and Smyth admitting to photographing naked boys \u201cfrom shoulders up\u201d for \u201cpublicity purposes.\u201d<\/p>\n Chosen to become his school\u2019s next head boy, Guide\u2019s naked body was found in a swimming pool at one such camp. Smyth, who presided over the funeral, was later charged with culpable homicide in Zimbabwe, but moved to neighboring South Africa<\/a>, where he died in 2018 aged 75.<\/p>\n Guide\u2019s family says the death could have been avoided had the church acted earlier.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Church of England is responsible for this. If Smyth couldn\u2019t work with children in the U.K., why would he work with children in Zimbabwe and South Africa?\u201d said Edith from Bedford in southern England.<\/p>\n Church reckoning<\/p>\n An independent review<\/a> commissioned by the Church of England last year accused the church of a coverup, saying Smyth was \u201cout of sight and out of mind, a problem solved and exported to Africa.\u201d<\/p>\n Welby, who was a camp dormitory officer in the 1970s and knew Smyth, said he was unaware of the abuses until 2013, soon after he became spiritual leader of the Anglican church.<\/p>\n