Days after Josh Duggar was found guilty on two child pornography charges, Joy-Anna Duggar and Austin Forsyth, released a statement.
The Counting On couple attended the trial, with Austin showing up more days than Joy-Anna. Both heard testimony from the prosecution, and at one point, it was revealed Joy-Anna was distraught.
They join several other family members who have released statements following the Josh Duggar guilty verdict.
What did Joy-Anna and Austin Forsyth say?
Before Joy-Anna Duggar and Austin Forsyth shared their statement, it took a few days. This is on par with what happened when Josh was arrested in April.
The couple wrote, “Over this last year, as you can imagine, there have been a lot of unanswered questions in our minds regarding Josh. We were able to sit through the trial to hear the evidence for ourselves.”
They continued, “We agree with the judicial system’s verdict and we are thankful for the men and women who work tirelessly to protect children and help prevent child sexual abuse material. Our hearts break for all CSAM victims.”
Their closing was telling about where they stand. Joy-Anna and Austin closed by saying, “We are praying for Anna and her children.”
Their statement was one of the most telling. Joy-Anna and Austin came out and said they agreed with the verdict, didn’t include any Bible verses at all, and were straight to the point. Interestingly, they mentioned Anna and “her” kids, not Anna and Josh’s kids.
Joy-Anna Duggar was one of Josh’s victims
In 2015, it was revealed that Josh Duggar had inappropriately touched several of his sisters and a family friend. The police report was made public, and even though the names were redacted, it wasn’t hard to put things together.
Jill Duggar and Jessa Duggar talked about Josh’s molestation, while Jinger Duggar and Joy-Anna Duggar briefly addressed it in confessionals on Jill & Jessa: Counting On.
Austin Forsyth attended Josh Duggar’s trial alongside Derick Dillard. The two faithfully showed up daily. Joy-Anna Duggar joined her husband occasionally, and Jill Duggar was only there for closing arguments. It’s assumed that because Jill was listed as a possible witness, she could not attend the testimony days.
Moving forward, it looks like there may be a divide in the Duggar family. All of Josh Duggar’s sisters who were victims have released statements about his guilty verdict, and only Jessa Duggar and Ben Seewald seemed to not outright condemn Josh.
Anna is the brainwashed, dutiful wife. She will never speak out or condemn him. It’s sickening and pathetic.
Amen and the fact that she keeps producing children with him is crazy. Those kids should be all taken away from her and he should never be allowed to see them again. If Mr. and Mrs Momma and Pappa Dugger new about this, they should be looking at criminal charges also!
Something should have been done with this guy when the allegations came out against him years ago but instead of that they sent him to a ministry where nothing was done with him and it was a waste of time. He should be in jail and should not have access to his own kids.
Anna is an idiot. If itnturns out her children have been molested by this monster, she should be incarcerated, too. Those kids need to be removed from her custody.