Neville Cooper founded Gloriavale and changed his name to Hopeful Christian as he positioned himself as a "charismatic" leader. He was also a convicted sex offender. Photo / TVNZ Sunday
Neville Cooper founded Gloriavale and changed his name to Hopeful Christian as he positioned himself as a "charismatic" leader. He was also a convicted sex offender. Photo / TVNZ Sunday
In the late 1960s, an Australian preacher made his way to New Zealand.
He had a vision to set up a Christian community where everyone shared everything and cared for everyone - where they shunned the "ungodliness" of the modern world and lived in purity.
He was Neville Cooper.
Aftersetting up the Springbank Christian Community in North Canterbury he soon realised he wanted more.
More than 600 people now live at Gloriavale. Photo / George Heard
His flock was growing, they needed more space, more opportunity to make money - more room for more followers.
He purchased land on the West Coast of the South Island and after several years of working bees on the site - where teams from Springbank went and toiled for weeks to build and prepare - Gloriavale was born.
Named after his late wife and the mother of 20 of his children, Gloriavale soon became infamous.
The isolated location, the secrecy of the people, the rejection of the outside world, the bizarre dress, the blind following of one man and his dream.
Over the years there have been scandals and stories, allegations and revelations and as the community has grown, so has intrigue into its inner workings.
Recently police and Oranga Tamariki - New Zealand's ministry for children - moved onto the site amid new claims of physical and sexual abuse towards the young people who inhabit the 1700-hectare rural property.
Today in the latest episode of Herald true-crime podcast A Moment In Crime we look into the beginnings of Gloriavale and the ongoing list of men brought to justice for sex crimes against children within the confines of the religious community.
And podcast host Anna Leask speaks about her own time at Gloriavale, reflecting on all she saw and experienced during a visit to the place often referred to as a cult or sect.
In this episode we also delve into the specific sex crimes of Neville Cooper, who changed his name to Hopeful Christian, and other men in the community.
And, we hear from people who have left - their why, how and lives beyond the Haupiri property.
A Moment In Crime is written, hosted and produced by Anna Leask with help from the NZME sound and vision team.
Leask has been covering crime and justice for NZME since early 2006 across New Zealand and has reported on most of the major incidents and events over that time.
Her interest in crime has never waned and her storytelling often delves much deeper than just the initial offence.
The women of Gloriavale in their matching dresses. Photo / Supplied
"Each month I'll take you inside some of our most infamous incidents, notorious offenders and behind the scenes of high-profile trials and events to show you what's really happening in your backyard," she said.
"Heroes and villains battle for justice to be done, and it seems no matter how horrifying the story, we always want to know more.
"If you want to know more about the cases that have shocked and shaped our nation - from murders and massacres to violent villains and the utterly unbelievable - join me for A Moment In Crime."
In our first episode, we looked back at the Christchurch terror attack - what unfolded on March 15 and how it changed New Zealand.
Since then Leask has covered the Grace Millane murder, the Scott Watson case, the Christchurch house of horrors, the Aramoana massacre, the Ashburton WINZ shootings, the mysterious death of Fielding farmer Scott Guy and arguably the most famous crime in New Zealand - the Crewe murders.
Lilia Tarawa escaped Gloriavale, a community established by her sex offender grandfather. Photo / Doug Sherring.
In 2017, Leask wrote and hosted Chasing Ghosts - a six-part podcast series on the Amber-Lee Cruickshank case.
The South Island toddler disappeared almost 27 years ago from a small town on the shore of Lake Wakatipu.
Despite exhaustive and repeated searches, there has never been any sign of the little girl.
To mark the 25th anniversary of Amber-Lee's disappearance, Leask investigated the famous cold case in a bid to generate some answers for the toddler's family.
It was the Herald's first true-crime podcast.
To subscribe to A Moment In Crime visit iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts and Spotify.
NZME has a raft of other podcasts produced by journalists and broadcasters from the Herald, Newstalk ZB, ZM, The Hits and others - all available on iHeart radio.
We want to hear from you
If there is a case you'd like us to consider covering email anna.leask@nzme.co.nz
