Gordon Rhys Barnes jailed for sexual abusing young men from church youth groups

Gordon Rhys Barnes groomed and sexually abused boys he met through church youth groups. Photo / 123RF

A man who used “the cover of Christianity” to groom and sexually abuse boys he met through church youth groups has been jailed for what a judge has described as a “significant breach of trust”.

Gordon Rhys Barnes returned from Australia to appear in the Wellington target="_blank">District Court last month where he was sentenced on 10 charges of sexually assaulting four young men, who were still at school, between 2011 and 2014. His name suppression has now lapsed.

Three of his male victims came to court. Two sat behind a screen as they read their harrowing victim impact statements to a hushed courtroom, graphically outlining the shame, embarrassment and impact the now 43-year-old’s offending had on them.

One told the court seeing people who vaguely looked like Barnes was still upsetting.

“I get triggered and I feel my stomach drop and I feel adrenaline, like a fight or flight reflex,” he said.

Another said, “I helped to financially support you when I was 18, buying groceries for you for several weeks while you were unable to find work ... you broke my trust when you assaulted me, and you broke my heart when you assaulted my brother.”

A third victim said, “I made stories up in my head, that I couldn’t have remembered it correctly. I felt ashamed, confused and embarrassed. I tried to forget about it and move on with my life.”

The man said as a result of Barnes’ offending, he’d had trouble maintaining relationships.

The court heard Barnes blamed the offending on his homosexuality and the difficulties this presented growing up in a religious household.

The 16-page summary of facts wasn’t read in open court but described how the victims attended various churches in the Wellington area from 2008, where Barnes was heavily involved in youth group activities.

Grooming and guilt

He would invite the teenagers to his house and they, in turn, would introduce him to their friends and brothers. Barnes established himself as a friend, mentor and religious tutor to the victims.

“I feel that I am responsible as I introduced you to them, that I am a coward for not speaking up, that I was too weak and ashamed to speak up to stop the others from experiencing that same pain,” one victim said.

“I feel if I wasn’t in the picture they may have stayed safe.”

Gordon Rhys Barnes would buy the young men gifts including online gaming subscriptions. Photo / 123RF

Barnes would buy his victims – who at the time were school students – bikes, laptops and online gaming subscriptions, and other things they couldn’t afford. He would take them to the movies or swimming pool and invite them to his house to watch movies, eat junk food and play video games.

Sitting on the couch Barnes would touch his victim’s inner thighs and legs. This progressed to staying over and sharing his bed – cuddling and spooning his victims before indecently assaulting them.

His victims were vulnerable and looking for guidance, the summary said. Often, they were having trouble with their own families and seeking support.

If the victims tried to break off contact Barnes would threaten to harm himself and them.

“Rhys manipulated me to believe that if I stopped talking to him or told anyone that I was being abused, that he would kill himself. I carried the stress of both the abuse and feeling responsible for his life for a year. I also feared he might kill me and more than once he talked about a place to bury a dead body,” one victim said.

When he tried to break off contact Barnes found and assaulted him, stalking him on social media and turning up unannounced to his rugby games.

When concerns were raised about the amount of time Barnes was spending with young men or his behaviour, he would deny it, saying he was trying to be a leader. Shortly after receiving the caution he moved to a new church.

In 2014 Barnes left for Australia and the first victim went to police in 2015.

‘A long stressful process’

But the court process has dragged on for almost four years.

The victims say Barnes’ repeated no-shows at court affected them.

One victim said he was anxious about coming into Wellington when Barnes was scheduled to appear in court, in case Barnes saw him and tried to attack him.

Another said it had been a long stressful process, especially knowing Barnes might still be manipulating and sexually abusing children.

It took almost four years for Gordon Rhys Barnes' case to progress through the Wellington District Court.

Lawyer Val Nisbet said responsibility for the delay didn’t rest with Barnes. His original lawyer had retired before the case concluded, there had been amendments to the number and nature of the charges as well as difficulty getting reports prepared from Australia. He said Barnes had returned from Australia voluntarily, but acknowledged the case should have been dealt with two or three years ago.

But Judge Brett Crowley questioned why Barnes hadn’t rung his lawyer to ask why matters weren’t proceeding, “I think he was avoiding it deliberately”.

Nisbet said Barnes had listened to the victim impact statements and understood the impact of his offending. His client’s expressions of remorse were genuine, he said.

Barnes had written a letter he wanted to read out to his victims, but they refused to have it read out in court.

Nisbet said Barnes told him he’d lived and worked in Australia, without incident or offending. His client acknowledged he was gay, although he hadn’t been in any lengthy or permanent gay relationships.

Crown prosecutor Sally Carter said the aggravating factors in the case included the breach of trust, the vulnerability of the victims, his premeditation, the scale of offending and the impact on his four victims.

Judge: significant breach of trust

Sentencing Judge Crowley said anyone who had sexually abused children and deprived them of their innocence required a stern response.

He said all three victims who spoke referred to a breach of trust, one describing it “under the cover of Christianity”.

The judge said the most aggravating factor was the significant breach of trust which aligned to the vulnerability of the victims.

There were clear elements of grooming and Barnes had clearly sought to gain the boys’ trust before offending against them.

Addressing the victims he said it would be wrong for them to feel any sense of responsibility and profoundly wrong for them to feel if they’d done something earlier this could not have happened to others.

Taking into account Barnes’ guilty plea, sparing his victims a trial, his remorse and matters raised in the psychological report, Barnes was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment, with leave to apply for home detention. But the judge declined to defer the start of the sentence so Barnes could find a suitable address.

Victim: Sentence was a ‘slap on the wrist’

One of the victims told NZME he was disappointed by the sentence, which was a “bit of a slap on the wrist”. He was also upset Barnes had received credit for a prompt guilty plea to a charge that had only been recently amended.

He’d been told Barnes could be released on parole after a year “and a year on home detention isn’t going to change his behaviour”. He said given the short length of sentence and eligibility for home detention; public safety was his main concern.

He said police had told him Barnes’ application for home detention had been declined and no further applications has been lodged since.

Churches respond

The summary of facts said Barnes was attending various churches in the Wellington region since 2008 including Elim Church, the Newlands Baptist Church and the Arise Church where he met parents and young people attending. When approached by NZME they expressed concern for the victims and commended them on their courage in coming forward.

Elim Church in Wellington was one of the churches Barnes attended.

Elim Church said it was disappointed to learn of Barnes’ crimes.

National leader pastor Boyd Ratnaraja said church staff felt something wasn’t right after observing Barnes’ behaviour at church. It took its concerns up with Barnes, warned relevant families to put safeguards in place and refused to let him be involved in the children’s ministry. His behaviour was reported to the police as a precautionary measure, Ratnaraja said.

“As a result Mr Barnes became offended and left our church,” Ratnaraja said adding that “to the best of our knowledge no one in our church was abused, we were deeply disappointed to later learn of Mr Barnes’ crimes”.

Arise Church said this was the first it had heard of the court proceedings as it hadn’t been contacted by police. Its general manager Donovan Stevens said allegations of abuse raised by their team were treated very seriously and reported to the police.

Dr Mike Crudge, communications director for the Baptist Churches of New Zealand.

The Baptist National Support Centre’s Mike Crudge – who responded on behalf of the Newlands Baptist Church – said no abuse was acceptable, adding the case showed “the injustices done to people in a vulnerable stage of life”. He said Barnes attended six to 12 church services at Newlands Baptist Church around October 2010.

Barnes’ name has automatically been added to the Sex Offenders Register.

Catherine Hutton is an Open Justice reporter, based in Wellington. She has worked as a journalist for 20 years, including at the Waikato Times and RNZ. Most recently she was working as a media adviser at the Ministry of Justice.