Stuff – ‘Absolutely abusive’: Gloriavale leaders allegedly verbally attacked ex-member during meeting

By Jake Kenny – Stuff – 05/09/2022

Warning: This story discusses details of alleged sexual abuse.

A former Gloriavale resident says she was verbally attacked by the community’s leaders in a late-night meeting for over an hour for accepting a phone call from her brother.

Virginia Courage was seven months pregnant and in bed at 10.45pm one evening at the secretive West Coast Christian community when she got a knock on her door and was summoned to a “servants and shepherds” meeting.

There, she was “completely attacked about everything” – her single life and early married life were mentioned, and the main gripe was her accepting a phone call from her brother, himself a former member of Gloriavale.

Courage said the tirade was “completely abusive” as she continued her evidence at the Christchurch Employment Court hearing on Monday.

Read more here: https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/129786246/absolutely-abusive-gloriavale-leaders-allegedly-verbally-attacked-exmember-during-meeting