Pastor faces new sex charges

Fresh charges have been laid against a former Taranaki church leader already defending a raft of sex-related allegations made by female congregants.

Last week, a seventh person came forward to police with complaints of sexual assaults by Nicholas William Keig, the former senior pastor of New Plymouth’s C3 (Christian City Church), Detective Julie Douglas said.

The complaint resulted in two additional charges of indecent assault being brought against Keig, taking the total number of charges up to nine, Douglas confirmed.

Keig is now facing six charges of indecent assault and three of committing an indecent act with intent to insult.

He previously pleaded not guilty to the first seven charges and elected to defend them by way of a judge-alone trial.

The alleged offending spans the late 1990s through to 2019.

The 50-year-old was the senior pastor at C3, a modern, charismatic church, from 2011 but resigned in May – a month before he made his first court appearance on the matter.

C3 Church Global general manager Tony Moylan said an internal investigation was carried out following reports from congregation members of alleged inappropriate behaviour primarily involving female congregants of C3 New Plymouth. As a result Keig was instructed to take immediate leave and make no contact with the church or its groups. When the leave ended Keig resigned, Moylan said.

Keig will return to court for a case review hearing on June 19, 2020.