Howard Temple. Photo: RNZ / Nate McKinnon
The disgraced former leader of Gloriavale will be sentenced on Friday morning for sexual offending against girls and young women in the community.
Howard Temple initially denied 24 charges of sexual offending against girls and women over a period of more than 20 years.
However, three days into his trial in July, he pleaded guilty to amended charges.
The 85-year-old admitted five counts of indecent assault, five of doing an indecent act and two of common assault.
Some of the charges were representative, meaning they related to repeated offending.
Temple was the West Coast Christian community's so-called Overseeing Shepherd from 2018 when its founder Hopeful Christian died.
He resigned in August about a fortnight after pleading guilty to the offending.
Five of the nine complainants gave evidence over the first two days of the trial, describing a culture of fierce patriarchy, where women and girls were at risk of being deemed rebellious or worldly for anything from tying the belt on their uniform incorrectly, to allowing too much hair to be visible under their headscarves.
The women said there was no way to refuse Temple, nor to report his actions to anyone, in the context of the complete control Gloriavale's leaders wielded over members.
The women told the court they were too scared to say anything because they knew women were always blamed in similar circumstances, and risked being branded as flirts or whores, being hauled into a "servants and shepherds" meeting and berated for not following the bible, ostracised by the community, or prevented from marrying.
"He had the power to change the trajectory of your life," one woman said.
The women described Temple taking advantage of the domestic duties they performed to touch, caress and grope them, such as during meal times, when they would be serving large, heavy jugs of non-alcoholic cider or hot drinks to tables of 50 or more. One woman said she was left without "any hands free to protect myself".
The women said it was common practice to attempt to arrive early so they could be allocated to any table except Temple's.
The only space to pour would be at his side at the head of the table, which allowed him to grab the young women around the waist, caressing them from their calves to their lower backs or grabbing them around their waists.
In January, Temple made a public apology to victims of historic sexual abuse at the community following the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care.
The apology was one of the inquiry's recommendations, however, former members rejected it as insincere.
About 600 people are believed to live at Gloriavale's compound at Lake Haupuri, about 60 kilometres from Greymouth.
The group, which began in 1969 as the Springbank Christian Community near Rangiora, was founded by Australian evangelist Neville Cooper, who would later be known as Hopeful Christian.
Christian was himself jailed in the 1990s for sexually assaulting a young woman in the community.
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