Former Gloriavale teacher sexually or violently abused 20 children
A former Gloriavale teacher who openly sexually abused children in his classroom has been sentenced to four years in prison for offending that spanned 40 years.
Just Standfast was sentenced by Judge Quentin Hix in the Greymouth District Court on Friday for 23 charges of sexual offending against 15 girls from 1983 to 2001 and violent offending against five boys and an adult from 1983 to 2023.
He pleaded guilty in May to two charges of sex violation by unlawful sex connection against two girls aged 7 and 14, 10 charges of indecent assault on girls under the age of 12, and six indecent assaults against girls aged between 12 and 16.
The 73-year-old also admitted five charges of assault with blunt weapons against five boys and a man.
Judge Hix gave Standfast a 60% discount from a starting point of 10.5 years in prison for his guilty plea, his co-operation with police and his significant health issues.
In March 2019, Standfast was sentenced to six months’ community detention and two years’ intensive supervision for indecently touching and kissing a 9-year-old student. He was given credit for his “previous impeccable good character” by the sentencing judge.
A New Zealand Teachers’ Disciplinary Tribunal decision in 2022 found former Gloriavale principal Faithful Pilgrim endorsed Standfast as being of “good character and fit to be a teacher” when Pilgrim knew he had sexually abused a student, and had heard a rumour about inappropriate conduct from Standfast towards another young person about 25 years earlier.
According to the court summary of facts for his latest charges, West Coast police detectives began “preliminary interactions” with Standfast in September after two large investigations into sexual offending at Gloriavale.
Before a formal police interview happened, Standfast provided a signed statement to police through his lawyer.
In the letter, which his lawyer advised him not to write, Standfast confessed to sexual and violent offending against children. He named two of the 15 girls he said he had sexually offended against. Police asked him to identify the others.
Standfast’s lawyer, Marcus Zintl, told the court on Friday Standfast was extremely remorseful and had apologised to most of his victims in person. He said Standfast suffered from health issues and a prison sentence would be “unduly harsh”.
According to the summary of facts, Standfast was known as Harvey Weston Bishop before he joined Gloriavale, when it was based at Cust in North Canterbury.