RNZ – Court hears of sexual culture at Gloriavale where women, girls blamed and punished

By Jean Edwards – RNZ – 06/09/2022

Gloriavale founder Hopeful Christian told a father who had just buried his daughter that he could take comfort from the fact she would not be molested, a court has heard.

Clem Ready said he was shaken by Christian’s attitude to the death of 14-year-old Prayer, who choked on a piece of meat in an isolation room at the West Coast commune in 2015.

The father-of-13, who still lives at Haupiri, told the Employment Court hearing he was terribly hurt by Prayer’s death.

“After we buried her, Hopeful came up to me and said – in a serious comment – that I could take comfort from the fact that she now would not be sexually molested by anybody in the community,” Ready said.

Read more here: https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/474241/court-hears-of-sexual-culture-at-gloriavale-where-women-girls-blamed-and-punished