Gloriavale leader Howard Temple this week pleaded guilty to 12 charges – five of indecent assault, five of doing an indecent act, and two of common assault. Photo / George Heard
Gloriavale leader Howard Temple this week pleaded guilty to 12 charges – five of indecent assault, five of doing an indecent act, and two of common assault. Photo / George Heard
The lawyer representing former Gloriavale members is calling on the Prime Minister to take urgent control of the community after its leader’s guilty plea to multiple sexual assault charges.
Gloriavale’s leader, Howard Temple, 85, pleaded guilty this week to 12 charges – five of indecent assault, five of doing anindecent act, and two of common assault.
The charges, some of which were representative of repeated behaviour, involved nine complainants aged between 9 and 20 and spanned from 1998 to 2022.
The remaining charges were dropped.
Gloriavale leader Howard Temple admitted 12 charges. Photo / George Heard
Speaking to Newstalk ZB’s John MacDonald, lawyer Brian Henry, who has represented numerous former Gloriavale members in court, says calling the offending “historic” downplays the scale and duration of abuse within the isolated West Coast community.
“The Prime Minister is the only one who can knock the heads of government agencies together. Everyone else has been sitting on their hands.
Gloriavale Christian Community is at Haupiri, on the West Coast of the South Island. Photo / George Heard
“He was molesting little girls while they delivered toast to him, in front of his wife, his daughter, the whole community, and no one stopped him because no one cared,” he said.
Henry wants the Government to use existing powers under social welfare legislation and the Corporations Investigation Act to effectively seize control of Gloriavale’s assets and administration.
“This is beyond doubt now a criminal organisation of sex offending. Social welfare has the power to remove families from harm. The Government can step in and straighten this out.”
He stopped short of calling for Gloriavale to be shut down entirely, saying many inside were “genuinely good Christian people”, but added: “The leadership is rotten. Temple and others created this culture. The young men convicted of abuse are a product of that environment.”
Asked what should happen if the community opposes government intervention, Henry said: “They don’t have the capacity to make that decision. They’re brainwashed. Are we going to let them watch their daughters be molested every morning?”
Despite decades of warnings and court findings, Henry has little faith in agencies to act unless directed from the top.
“They’ve known since the day they convicted Hopeful Christian. For God’s sake, Prime Minister, you’re the only one who can step up now and make Government do its job.”
