Stuff: Baby in the witness box as Gloriavale mum tells ‘other side of the story’

By Marine Lourens | Stuff |

A baby has made a rare appearance in a court witness box as a Gloriavale member hit back at those saying women in the religious community have little choice over their lives.

Rachel Stedfast, who is the acting Gloriavale school principal and has nine children, testified at an Employment Court case centred on six women who are arguing they should have been recognised as employees, not volunteers, for the domestic work they did for years at the religious sect.

Stedfast, 39, was born at the Springbank Christian Community, which later relocated to the West Coast and became known as Gloriavale.

She began her testimony at the hearing in Christchurch on Friday by saying she wanted to tell “the other side of the story of what most people have heard”.

Further reading: Baby in the witness box as Gloriavale mum tells ‘other side of the story’