Reverend June Dolley Major lashes out at Anglican Church tribunal’s decision

Reverend June Dolley Major.

Reverend June Dolley Major.

Published Oct 1, 2021

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CAPE TOWN - Reverend June Dolley Major has slated the Anglican Church's tribunal, saying its findings – exonerating Reverend Melvin Booysen of rape charges – were a travesty of justice, and an abuse of process.

The tribunal found Dolley Major’s account to be inconsistent with a series of circumstantial factors in her story that Booysen raped her.

Booysen is not her rapist, said the tribunal in its judgment on Thursday, following hearings into sexual abuse charges against him.

Dolley Major alleged that Booysen had raped her in October 2002, at the home of the dean of studies, in Grahamstown.

He faced charges of sexual assault, sexual harassment, sexual immorality, cause for scandal or offence and violation of the Constitution or Canons of the Anglican Church.

But the tribunal, in a statement said there was no evidence of Dolley Major laying allegations or informing her Bishop prior to 2016, and no corroboration of them.

“We do not find her account consistent with a series of circumstantial factors in the story. Booysen is not her rapist,” stated the tribunal.

Reacting to the judgment, Dolley Major said: “It is nothing but a travesty of justice, and an abuse of process that the tribunal, led by retired bishop Peter Lee, has fumbled and struggled to protect the church at all costs and, in the process, have found with baseless diffidence that my accusation of rape by the Reverend Melvin Booysen, 19 years ago, in Makhanda, was untrue.”

“This has been a whitewash, not only of my terrible and life changing ordeal; it is also a snub to the many young boys who have been defiled over the years by recalcitrant deviant clerics, and whose stories of sexual abuse have been buried for lack of action by those in authority.

“But truth has a habit of revealing itself. I pray for the day that not only my case, but the many cases of others, who have suffered a similar plight, and whose pleas for help fell on deaf ears, or were ignored by the pillars of the church, will be investigated,” she said.

Dolley Major said she was saddened that the clergy she once looked up to had so “brazenly distorted” the truth and chose to deny the help, support and protection which she needed.

“In this matter, there were two very antagonistic views that went to the heart of the matter. I do not harbour any grudge against Bishop Garth Counsel and the Reverend Mark Andrews, who was present at the time in Makhanda, but I fail to understand how they could lie to the tribunal and deny everything that I ever told them.

’’Whatever the decision of this tribunal, there is no way that anyone can have the remotest doubt that something happened that night in Makhanda, 19 years ago. And what happened was that I was raped by Melvin Booysen,” said Major.

The tribunal, however, did find Booysen guilty of breaching the Resolution of Permanent Force 5, which governs ministerial conduct for clergy and lay leaders in this Church, “by apparently invading the complainant’s private space in their lodgings.”

It said some therapy and retraining have been recommended to the bishop.

“Major continues to represent herself as an active Anglican priest in good standing, which by her own choice, she has not been since she resigned some years ago. We recommend that the Bishop of Table Bay clarifies the truth to the public,” ACSA said in a statement.

Tribunal documents read: “One indication of probability is consistency. Other indications include credibility of the witnesses, demeanour and corroboration. There is nothing consistent about the version presented by Major.

’’Her version started out as an account of attempted rape, and grew to a ‘slight’ penetration to full penetration. She conveniently left out an entire account of attempted rape in 2003, the fact that she reported this, and that the college (Church) immediately acted on her report.

“Major claimed in her evidence that she never reported this alleged rape, as she was instructed by Counsel to remain quiet. This does not take into account that she only told Counsel about the alleged rape three or four years after the event, in her own version.

’’She never explained why she did not immediately go to the police when this happened. Her explanation to the police was that she was friendly with Booysen’s wife, Wilhelmina,” tribunal documents read.

Dolley Major is currently on a 40-day walk from Sir Lowry’s Pass to Makhanda (Grahamstown), in an effort to highlight the difficulties encountered by rape victims when they report the crimes to police and authorities. She, along with Cape Town civil rights activist Celesthea Pierang, hope to reach Makhanda on October 30.

They are also raising funds to establish a help desk and outreach centre for victims of sexual abuse.

Cape Times