A 55-year-old woman went to the church of her alleged rapist and publically called him out before fellow worshipers in Arizona.
In a video which was posted online, the victim, identified as McKenna Denson, took the podium during a monthly segment in Mormon services and described the attack that allegedly took place 30 years ago.
Denson had earlier this year filed a lawsuit against the church after it reportedly failed to take an action against a former missionary leader who allegedly raped her in the 1980’s.
According to carbonated.tv the victim complained about how church leaders were covering for Joseph L. Bishop, whom she referred to as a “sexual predator.”
While addressing the shocked church members, a man behind her approached her and tried to get her off the stage.
“For the atonement to take place, we have to be accountable for what we do,” she said, while struggling with the man who was trying to desperately usher her away.
“In order to keep the church safe we need to hold sexual predators accountable, whether they are paedophiles or whether they are rapists like Joseph Bishop.”
Meanwhile, the man grabbed her by the shoulders and kept telling her to talk to him in person about it.
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Nevertheless, Denson made sure to get her concern across and at one point even asked people in the audience to call the police when the man tried to force her off the podium.
“This is not the place for you to share this, C’mon,” the man insisted, after which Denson finally left the stage.
After the video was posted on YouTube, the church’s spokesperson condemned Denson’s actions and said members should not disrupt church services for personal gains.
Denson publicly spoke about her ordeal for the first time a couple of months ago, when she said the bishop, who was a high-ranking official of the religious organization and the former president of Weber State University in Ogden, Utah, raped her in 1984 in a secret room when she was 21-years-old.
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During an interview in April, Denson said;
“President Bishop made me feel special.
“He told me I was special. He told me I was going to be amazing. I had never had anyone in the church that was so high-ranking ever pay attention to me. I loved it, I needed it, I was desperate for it.”
“And then it became one on one,” she continued.
“So I was called out of class to visit with the MTC president in his office one on one. Those conversations were inappropriate and sexual in nature.”
Then one day, the bishop allegedly took her to a secret basement room where he reportedly said he went for prayer and “spiritual contemplation.”
“So we went down the dark tunnel … where he unlocked the room, where he had a bed, a TV, a VCR and unlabeled VHS tapes,” she said. “Joseph Bishop tore my blouse open, pulled my garments and pantyhose down” and allegedly raped her.
“When I was pulling up my pantyhose or trying to button up my blouse or put myself together, he said to me, ‘No one will believe you. Look at you. Look at me,'” Denson continued. “So when I left his secret room in the basement I went to my dorm and I laid down and I pretended I was sick.”
The victim said she kept the horrifying encounter to herself until 1987 when she finally decided to go to a bishop at the Mormon Church. Though the bishop promised her he would look into the allegations, nothing happened whatsoever.
See the video:
