Zimbabwean family seeks justice for brother's death linked to abuse at Christian camp

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HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — For over 30 years, Edith Nyachuru has carried the weight of her brother’s unexplained death.

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’s darkest scandals.

It led to the resignation of Justin Welby as Archbishop of Canterbury last year.

Now, as the church prepares to install its first female Archbishop of Canterbury and some Zimbabwean victims pursue legal action in the U.K., the Nyachuru family hopes the church and justice system will finally bring answers.

“The struggle for justice is real,” said Edith. “The most painful thing is we as a family don’t know how he died, what kind of pain he endured.”

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.

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’s 1982 report found evidence of abuses by Smyth at Christian camps. They are demanding a “full apology,” access to church documents, compensation and an independent review.

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.

The 1982 report, compiled by then parish Vicar Mark Ruston in Cambridge, detailed beatings lasting “many years.” One victim could "feel the blood spattering on my legs.” Ruston described “bruised and scored buttocks” months after a beating, noting “suppressed masochistic sexual activity” and forced nakedness “to increase humility.”

Although Ruston's report admitted the acts were criminal, police were not informed, a decision lawyers say enabled further abuse in Africa.

In Zimbabwe, alarmed parents approached lawyer David Coltart, who compiled a damning report in 1993.

Coltart described beatings, boys forbidden underwear, forced into nude night swims, Smyth leading a prayer naked and Smyth admitting to photographing naked boys “from shoulders up” for “publicity purposes.”

Chosen to become his school’s next head boy, Guide’s 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, where he died in 2018 aged 75.

Guide’s family says the death could have been avoided had the church acted earlier.

“The Church of England is responsible for this. If Smyth couldn’t work with children in the U.K., why would he work with children in Zimbabwe and South Africa?” said Edith from Bedford in southern England.

An independent review commissioned by the Church of England last year accused the church of a coverup, saying Smyth was “out of sight and out of mind, a problem solved and exported to Africa.”

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.

He later wrote a personal letter of apology to Edith. Welby stepped down in November 2024, after the review found that he failed to tell police about Smyth’s abuse as soon as he became aware of it.

The Nyachuru family now places its hope in new Archbishop Sarah Mullally, who starts official duties in January, and has vowed to rebuild trust.

“I say being a woman and a mother, you know what we are going through,” Edith said. “Can you please look into this case that has been there for decades with urgency? We need closure.”

Mullally, a former nurse, has pledged to ensure “we are a church that not only prevents abuse but responds well when it is reported.”

Attorney Rebekah Read accused the church of missing “multiple opportunities” to stop Smyth. “Instead, it chose to protect its reputation,” she said. Her clients, she said, hope the church’s leadership transition “will signal a renewed commitment to transparency, accountability and justice for survivors.”

For the Nyachurus, whose only surviving reminder of a boy who dreamed of becoming an aircraft engineer is an old photograph in the family living room in Zimbabwe, remembrance has become a quiet ritual.

“We just use candles on his date of death,” Edith said. “We go to his grave, lay flowers, sweep the area. On his birthday, we do a low-key family get-together to keep his memory alive.”