Exclusive Brethren on trial

Details about the culture of the secretive Exclusive Brethren church are to be revealed in court as a dedicated member stands trial for allegedly sexually abusing his son.

Crown prosecutor Michael Blaschke told a jury in the Palmerston North District Court on Monday the church’s culture helped frame the background of the alleged offending.

The male member, who cannot be named without identifying his family, faces 10 sexual violation charges, and a charge each of indecent assault and assault with a weapon.

The alleged offending began in the mid-1990s when the complainant was not even old enough to go to school, Blaschke said.

‘‘This is about the childhood of a young man...a terrible, dark and disturbing childhood where he was sexually abused in the most grave way by a person the boy should trust the most - his father.’’

The family lived in Horowhenua, with the complainant’s parents meeting through the Exclusive Brethren church.

The church was a ‘‘controlling part of the story of this family’’, with meetings and services every day, Blaschke said.

Women were subject to strict restrictions and had to submit to their husbands.

‘‘It was an all-consuming lifestyle. The church takes control over the lives of the family.’’

Followers were also at risk of being ‘‘shut out’’ if they left the church and unable to communicate with family members who remained faithful.

The sexual abuse against the boy often happened in the bathroom while he bathed, with man using the cover of making sure his son did not get in trouble in the water, Blaschke said.

Other locations where abuse took place was at the man’s work and in the sand dunes of a nearby beach, he said.

‘‘[The complainant] remembers it was painful because of the sand.’’

While the complainant could not remember how many times it happened, he could remember being sexually abused on one specific occasion.

That was his 6th birthday. He can remember the cake he was able to eat that day, Blaschke said.

The parents separated, and the church made arrangements for the complainant to live with other Exclusive Brethren followers.

Blaschke said the man would visit his son and continue the sexual abuse.

While a defendant’s previous convictions are usually withheld while on trial, the jury in this case were told the man had pleaded guilty and was sent to jail for raping his wife.

Defence lawyer Fergus Steedman said the man allowed for his convictions to be disclosed.

His son’s knowledge of the convictions and his wife’s hatred for him, and hatred of the Exclusive Brethren church, would be key themes of the trial, Steedman said.

‘‘He treated his wife in a way he now regrets intensely and has regretted for years.

‘‘As a father to young children he had his fair share of shortcomings and black spots.

‘‘But he will say the same thing - he never, ever, ever, not once, touched [his son] in a sexual way.’’

The case effectively came down to a ‘‘credibility battle’’, Steedman said. ‘‘The sad reality is, from a defence perspective, [the son] is a fantasist.’’

Steedman told the jury they would have to be especially careful with issues of prejudice.

‘‘This is a man who says ‘I raped my wife [and] as a father I fell so far short of the mark’.’’

The trial, before Judge Jim Large and a jury, continues.