No abuse reports by Gloriavale
Gloriavale leaders will not notify police of sexual assault allegations when they are first reported, according to a government investigation into serious allegations at the isolated religious community.
Five women interviewed for the government investigation alleged they were victims of sexual assault during their time at Gloriavale.
Investigators also heard claims that community members and women from outside the West Coast community had been sexually assaulted by the same offender.
The case includes claims that Gloriavale leaders were aware of the allegations, blamed the victims and failed to take action.
The report, released under the Official Information Act this week, was sparked by claims of sexual and physical assault by former Gloriavale members made to New Zealand media in 2015.
Charities Services, a division of the Department of Internal Affairs, decided to investigate as the allegations could breach the Charities Act.
In response to the government report, Gloriavale leaders drafted a new policy on how they would deal with allegations of physical or sexual assault. That policy was released as an appendix to the government report.
It states that allegations will be investigated by the community. If the claim is found to be true, the ‘‘involved parties’’ will be gathered together and warned not to ‘‘disobey the commandments of the Bible’’ or break ‘‘the law’’.
The trustees will then seek to ‘‘bring the offender to genuine repentance for their transgression toward the person’’. They would also ‘‘bring the person who had been assaulted to genuine forgiveness towards the person who had assaulted them’’.
They would then ‘‘watch carefully afterwards and check up, that all such sexual assault has come to a complete end’’.
If the offending continued, they would tell the offender to leave and confess to police. If they did not, then Gloriavale leaders would finally notify police, the policy states.
A police investigation into allegations at Gloriavale is ongoing. Acting West Coast area commander, Inspector Dan Mattison said that no charges had yet been laid.
Gloriavale trustee Fervent Stedfast said the claims of sexual assault were unfounded. ‘‘People can make allegations, but it doesn’t mean that they are true. I see no basis for them.’’
Stedfast said he was not aware of the police investigation. ‘‘I don’t know what the police conclusions are but they have not approached us, except some years ago.’’
Child, Youth and Family deputy chief executive Murray Edridge said the organisation had worked with children from two Gloriavale families. ‘‘Our primary concern is protecting the confidentiality of the children.’’
The Charities Services report states that multiple allegations of sexual assault were made against ‘‘the same offender’’. But Stedfast said there was no evidence of a ‘‘sexual predator’’ in Gloriavale.