Gloriavale leader Howard Temple ‘caressed and kissed’ girls serving food
A woman says Gloriavale leader Howard Temple kissed her on the neck when she was about 13 and held her tightly for 10 minutes after she told him she did not like the kisses.
Temple, the “Overseeing Shepherd” at the West Coast Christian community that some consider to be a cult, is on trial in Greymouth facing 24 charges of indecent assault spanning more than 25 years.
The court has heard from four women, who have left the community, who allege he would tell them he loved them while he touched their breasts, bottoms and waists when they were serving him food as children.
One woman said she remembered clearly when she was aged between 13 and 15 in a separate area of the kitchen by herself pouring juice into iceblock moulds when Temple came up behind her, wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed her neck several times.
“I felt myself freeze but also startle in fright and I just stood there. He asked me … ‘Did you not like that?’ and I said no,” she said.
She said he stopped kissing her but kept his chin resting on her shoulder in the tight embrace for up to 10 minutes until her sister came in.
She said she would try to avoid him, but her body would freeze when he often came into the kitchen, wrapped his arms around her, pulled her close by the waist and felt her back and bottom when she was serving him drinks as a nine to 12 year old.
“In Gloriavale we knew that women and girls were not believed and life was made worse if you spoke up,” she said.
In cross examination, Temple’s lawyer Michael Vesty said Temple did not touch the witness’s bottom or kiss her and his actions were an affectionate sign of thanks for serving or making food.
He said because there were strict rules around contact with men before marriage and women were taught that every male would have a sexual interest in them, that caused confusion when Temple hugged her.
Judge Raoul Neave warned Vesty that it struck him as a “very dangerous line of inquiry” and questioned who taught the women that ideology.
He said if Temple asked the girl if she liked the kiss after he did it “the damage is already done.”
“If he was aware that he needed consent then he’s got a problem.”
The 85-year-old admits he hugged girls but denies anything indecent occurred. He says any touching of bottoms was accidental and there was never any sexual motive to his gestures of affection.
Another complainant said Temple used to touch and cuddle her while she served him non-alcoholic cider in a communal dining area.
“His wife and daughter were there beside him and the whole community were there. It felt weird no-one ever spoke up and said anything. I didn’t know I could, and in fact I didn’t know it was wrong. I just knew it didn’t feel right for me.”
She said she was scared to speak up because women were taught from birth not to speak up against the leaders, but to be meek and quiet with downcast eyes.
The woman said she tried to tell her mother about the offending before she left the community, but was told not to “speak evil”.
She said the touching started when she was 9 and continued when she began preparing food in the kitchen from the age of 12.
She said he would move along a line of girls who were serving food and hug them from behind, rub their shoulders, arms and back, or kiss their necks.
Under cross-examination, she said women and girls would never initiate the physical contact.
She said the community had a “purity culture” – touching a member of the opposite sex before marriage was forbidden.
“Somehow that didn’t apply to the leaders … The funny thing is he never did it to the girls he was related to,” she said.
She said she only realised that men should not touch young girls without consent when police organised sexual harm education meetings for community members.
Another complainant said Temple would come up behind her and whack her on the bottom and wrap his arms around her waist while she was working in the kitchen.
She feared she would get into trouble with the other leaders if she told him she did not like what he was doing, she told the court.
She first complained to police about Temple in June 2015.
In cross examination, she told defence lawyerMarcus Zintl that when Temple hugged her she had to put on a happy face to show respect to Temple as a leader.
“You have recast or reinterpreted what happened after you left the community. You never complained or resisted. I suggest you consented to him hugging you from behind,” Zintl said. Judge Neave reminded Zintl of the law about consent, which states not protesting does not constitute consent.
The Crown says Temple allegedly kissed two girls and touched two girls’ breasts. Five complainants allege he touched their bottoms.
That was despite police warning him when he became leader in 2018 that they were investigating complaints from former members, of unwanted touching by men in the community – including him – yet his pattern of touching allegedly continued.
The incidents spanned from 1997 to 2022, when Temple was aged between 57 and 82.
Vesty said in his opening address that Temple, as a leader, expressed his affection by hugging members and had no sexual motivation.
He said five women currently living in Gloriavale would give evidence that they witnessed Temple hugging complainants in a grandfatherly manner and they often saw the women reciprocating and initiating the hugging.
The judge-alone trial before Judge Raoul Neave is expected to last two weeks.