: By Anna Leask | NZ Herald | A Gloriavale father of 13 once convicted of beating two of his young daughters with shoes, carpentry tools, coat hangers and belts has turned on the community’s leaders, telling the court that sexual abuse, bullying and forced labour are prevalent within the sect.…
: By Jean Edwards – RNZ – 05/09/2022 A former Gloriavale member has described an ingrained culture of bullying and mocking at the West Coast Christian community, where powerful and controlling leaders punished women. Mother-of-11 Virginia Courage told the Employment Court Gloriavale’s founder Hopeful Christian was a bully who ridiculed the…
: By Jake Kenny – Stuff – 05/09/2022 Warning: This story discusses details of alleged sexual abuse. A former Gloriavale resident says she was verbally attacked by the community’s leaders in a late-night meeting for over an hour for accepting a phone call from her brother. Virginia Courage was seven months…
: By Ryan Boswell – 1News – 05/09/2022 Gloriavale members grow up being told they owe their life to the West Coast commune, the Employment Court has been told. Virginia Courage is one of six former female members arguing that they should’ve been treated as employees, rather than volunteers at Gloriavale.…
: By Anna Leask | NZ Herald | A mum-of-11 who escaped Gloriavale says the community’s founder Hopeful Christian was “a bully” and his cruel treatment of people became “ingrained” in the whole population. Virginia Courage is part of an Employment Court case against the Christian community – alleging women are…
: By Kaysha Brownlie | Newshub | A former Gloriavale resident has told the Employment Court in Christchurch there was a culture of bullying and mocking inside the community. Virginia Courage is one of six women fighting to prove they were employees rather than volunteers at the commune. Courage’s life outside the…
: NZ Herald – 4/09/2022 For viewers of the screen adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s 1985 novel The Handmaid’s Tale, the comparisons are inevitable. To start with, women of Gloriavale wear headscarves and apparel resembling the characters of the fictional Netflix series in all-but colour – the television cast in gaudy red and…
: RNZ – 2/09/2022 A former Gloriavale woman has told a court the Christian community is not a safe place for children. Virginia Courage broke down describing how her teenage daughter was sent out of the country by Gloriavale’s leaders against her will. Courage was born into Gloriavale but left with…
: 1News – 2/09/2022 The dilemma for mothers at Gloriavale has been described at the Employment Court in Christchurch. Former member Virginia Courage is one of six women arguing the West Coast commune should have treated them as employees rather than volunteers. She said her daughter “was treated horribly, she was…
: Stuff – 2/09/2022 Clothing is a tool used to control and save money at Gloriavale, with theories about red being a “whore’s colour” and strict rules around how tight to tie your belt. A Gloriavale leaver has revealed what it is like to wear the infamous long blue dresses and…
