Gloriavale’s Howard Temple’s prison van turned around after bail granted
Gloriavale’s former leader Howard Wendell Temple has been granted bail as he appeals his jail term of two years and two months’ imprisonment for indecency offending against six girls and young women inside the Christian community over two decades.
Temple initially pleaded not guilty at trial earlier this year to 24 charges of indecent assault against nine women spanning more than 20 years, but then pleaded guilty to 12 amended charges.
The victims were aged between 9 and 21 and the offending spanned 2002 to 2022. Temple pleaded guilty to five charges of indecent assault, five charges of doing an indecent act and two charges of assault.
His lawyer Michael Vesty said he lodged the appeal against Temple’s sentence in the High Court within an hour of the sentence being handed down by Judge Neave in the Greymouth District Court on Friday.
It was lodged on the grounds the sentence was manifestly excessive and a telephone conference was being held this week to set a hearing date, he said.
He said the Bail Act provided for an application for bail pending an appeal of sentence. He said the law provided for an appellant to be bailable at any time before the hearing of the appeal at the discretion of the judge who presided over the sentencing.
“Whether Mr Temple has bought himself some time and is just delaying the inevitable will be determined when the appeal is heard,” he said.
Vesty said if Temple’s sentence was two months shorter he would have been allowed to apply for home detention, and a focus of the appeal would be whether the discounts provided by Judge Neave should have been higher.
He was granted bail on the same conditions he had been under for more than two years, since he was first charged in July 2023.
Temple had been on his way to Christchurch in a prison van which turned around when bail was granted, Vesty said.
In court, Vesty asked Judge Neave to impose a sentence of home detention so Temple could continue to work and worship at Gloriavale where he had lived most of his adult life.
“He’s 85 years old he’s in declining physical health and he has a declining memory. He has impaired hearing and … declining cognitive function,” he told the judge.
“He is at very low risk of offending and negligible risk to those inside or outside the community.”
Vesty said Temple had shown remorse by offering to meet all the victims in a restorative justice process. One conference was scheduled, Vesty said.
He said Temple wanted to continue to work even at his age and did not want to be a burden on his family or the community.
Crown prosecutor Kerry White said while on bail, Temple had been living at a property off the main Gloriavale site, but had been allowed back on the community grounds to work at commercial business and attend worship meetings.
Judge Neave said the offending was in the victims’ home, a place they were entitled to feel safe but Temple took advantage.
“There are no mitigating features of the offending. There has been an element of hypocrisy in your actions,” he said.
Vesty asked for a starting point of 26 months whereas White for the Crown said a starting point of 36 months was appropriate.
Judge Neave said he agreed on a starting point of 36 months. He gave Temple a discount of 8% for the guilty plea during the trial, which spared some of the victims from giving evidence.
He gave discount of 5% for remorse and willingness to attend restorative justice, but said Temple still displayed attitudes that indicated he did not fully understand the seriousness of his offending.
He gave a discount of 5% for Temple’s age and health. The total discounts of 28% reduced the sentence by 10 months, to 26 months’ imprisonment.
Dennis Gates, a lawyer who represented former members in the Employment Court, said he had been told from sources in the community that Temple was working in the office and was still held in high status.
“He goes back to the scene of the crime. He is working right in the heart of the community. There is no escape for the women who suffered from his offending,” he said.
He said Temple had been bailed to a nearby farmhouse, which had far superior accommodations than the hostels shared by the rest of the community.
“It’s no penalty at all. Nothing changes. It’s frustrating. The Government has known about the risk to children and done nothing. They should shut it down,” he said.