Gloriavale teacher’s brazen sexual offending was never hidden – victim
A woman sexually abused by her teacher at Gloriavale says her “heart is full of sorrow” for all the children who suffered brazen sexual abuse and brutal beatings in the isolated community.
Just Standfast was sentenced by the Greymouth District Court on Friday to four years’ prison for 23 charges of sexual offending against 15 girls and violent offending against five boys and an adult from 1983 to 2023.
Virginia Courage, who waived her right to automatic name suppression, told the court that as a teacher at the community’s school, Standfast was able to keep offending against children for 40 years.
Standfast openly touched her and her young classmates under their dresses in the classroom while checking work or reading aloud.
He inflicted brutal beatings on children with unchecked rage and targeted boys for the harshest punishments, she said.
She questioned why the principal or community leaders never intervened or reported him to the authorities, allowing him to offend over and over.
Courage said as a young child she was excited and joyful at the prospect of starting school. Instead she suffered and witnessed abuse and was taught to obey and submit to men, as other young girls at Gloriavale were.
“I remember thoughts of confusion and panic… Your brazen behaviour was never hidden,” she told Standfast at Friday’s sentencing.
She said Gloriavale School claimed to be Christian with Christian teachers.
“What a joke.”
Her three oldest children ended up in Standfast’s class too as she had no choice but to send them to Gloriavale School because women were taught to be silent and she had no driver’s licence or money.
Courage said she pitied Standfast and his family.
“You have left lasting damage on many people. What a terrible legacy.”
After the sentencing, Courage told The Press Gloriavale’s leadership used money earned by the community, which included Standfast’s victims and their families, to pay for his legal expenses.
“At least [Friday’s sentence is] not home detention like in his previous sentencing when the court didn’t know it wasn’t his first offence. Opportunistic was what the judge said and that was incorrect,” she said.
She lived at Gloriavale at the time of Standfast’s previous 2019 court case, and said she felt the leaders supported him after the arrest and while he was on bail.
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 he knew Standfirst had sexually abused a student. He’d also heard a rumour about inappropriate conduct by Standfast towards another young person about 25 years earlier.
Standfast pleaded guilty in May to two charges of sexual violation by unlawful sex connection against two girls aged 7 and 14, 10 charges of indecent assault on girls under 12, and six indecent assaults against girls aged between 12 and 16. His youngest victim was 5 years old.
The 73-year-old also admitted five charges of assault with blunt weapons against five boys and a man.
Judge Quentin 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.
The judge said several several charges “would not have seen the light of day” but for Standfast’s confession.
The offending was consistent over a significant number of years, against a large number of victims, and the adult who Standfast had beaten had significant challenges at the time.
Judge Hix said letters provided to the court in support of Standfast said he was exposed to significant violence and other challenges while growing up in state care. However, the judge refused to give Standfast a further discount for previous good character.
“You were able to gain trust in the community to the point the parents trusted their children to your care,” Judge Hix told him.
Defence lawyer Marcus Zintl said Standfast was extremely remorseful and had apologised to most of his victims in person.
He said Standfast, who appeared in court in a wheelchair, had been diagnosed with skin cancer and, with his physical disability, a prison sentence would be “unduly harsh”.
According to the summary of facts, Standfast was known as Harvey Weston Bishop before he joined Gloriavale. He lost his right leg above the knee and suffered a significant injury to his right arm in a motorcycle crash.
Standfast would get angry when boys aged 6 to 9 were not doing what he expected. He would line them up and strike them across the backside, arms or legs with garden tools and a plastic pipe.
Standfast told police he was “totally ashamed” of his actions, which were sexually motivated and intentional.
“I will have to live with my guilt and shame for the rest of my life and beyond,” he said.