Former Gloriavle overseeing shepherd Howard Temple in the Greymouth District Court during his sentencing. Photo: Tim Brown / RNZ
The disgraced former leader of Gloriavale stole the innocence and childhood of the girls and young women he abused.
Through tears and strains of emotion his victims have detailed to the Greymouth District Court the lifelong effects of Howard Temple's sexual abuse.
The 85-year-old has today been jailed for 26 months for indecently assaulting young women and girls over 20 years in the secretive West Coast Christian community.
He has also been added to child sex offender register.
Temple became the community's so-called overseeing shepherd in 2018 when its founder Hopeful Christian died.
The victims, who have name suppression, told the court of the torment Temple created in their young lives due not only to his offending but the authority he wielded over their lives.
He held a "position like God", one victim said.
"I don't think you, Howard, have any idea of what you took from me," the woman said.
"Your sexual desires came above what was right and you allowed yourself to take what you wanted.
"You abused that trust. You were not a servant of God. You were using the name of God to cover your sins."
The woman told Temple she felt sick about the way he put his hands on her, but "who was I to say no to you?".
Temple not only had the ability to control their lives but the victims also believed he controlled their ability to enter heaven.
"Abuse was not a word we knew," the woman told the court.
"I wish I had a sense of before and after the offending ... there is no before - you stole my innocence."
The woman was further traumatised by having to give evidence at the aborted trial earlier this year.
She was accused of enjoying Temple's attention and unwanted touching.
"I was assaulted over and over with questions and statements designed to look like I was the offender," she said.
It took her back to her time in Gloriavale and the unrelenting accusations of the community's elders.
Another victim said she still felt vulnerable and unsafe, even "wearing a skirt felt unsafe because it made me vulnerable to the harassment".
She had escaped the community but her much of her family remained inside.
"I left with no sense of self," she said.
"My parents and family inside are undoubtedly being told I'm evil for persecuting the leader."
Another victim said she had been silenced since she was a young child.
"Howard abused his position and authority to normalise the behaviour," she said.
"He wore my boundaries down and my instincts to protect myself were clouded as a result.
"I would submit to people in authority for fear of what would happen if I did not."
Some of the victims were now themselves mothers, which had emphasised the innocence Temple had stolen from them.
Temple initially denied the offending before pleading guilty to amended charges three days into his trial.
He admitted five counts of indecent assault, five of doing an indecent act and two of common assault.
Many of the charges were representative, meaning they related to repeated similar offending.
The offending was against six girls and young women covering a period from 2002 to 2022.
It covered a period when he was the second-most and most powerful figure in the community.
Temple was the West Coast Christian community's so-called Overseeing Shepherd from 2018 when its founder Hopeful Christian died.
Judge Raoul Neave said, of Temple, "if he wants to regard himself as a shepherd, this is not how you look after your flock".
Hopeful Christian was himself jailed in the 1990s for sexually assaulting a young woman in the community.
Howard Temple resigned as leader in August about a fortnight after pleading guilty to the offending.
In January, Temple made a public apology to victims of historic sexual abuse at the community following the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care.
The apology was one of the inquiry's recommendations, however, former members rejected it as insincere.
About 600 people are believed to live at Gloriavale's compound at Lake Haupuri, about 60 kilometres from Greymouth.
The group, which began in 1969 as the Springbank Christian Community near Rangiora, was founded by Australian evangelist Neville Cooper, who would later be known as Hopeful Christian.
Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.