Original subtitles

Probably from the age of 14, I knew that I wasn't gonna live there forever.

I could never imagine myself being married to someone I didn't choose to marry.

Women are, like, the men's objects for sex.

That was always something in the back of my head, I was really, like, scared of.

When I was 18, the pressure came.

They gave me an ultimatum ― sign the commitment and get married, or leave.

I said no, and so straight away, they sent me to my room.

I had to change out of the Gloriavale dress.

I knew once I left, I never was gonna see my family again.

And my mum said to me, 'You're going to hell.'

I've never been on a bus or anything like that. I didn't even know what a bus stop was.

I knew that the outside existed,

but I didn't know the extent of the outside.

Captions were made with the support of NZ On Air.

www.able.co.nz Copyright Able 2024

♪ When you come,

♪ I follow you.

♪ I follow you. ♪

Hopeful Christian, founder of the Gloriavale Commune

and convicted sex offender, has died of cancer at the age of 92.

The group, now numbering 600, are without their Overseeing Shepherd for the first time.

But will their leader's death bring about the demise of the community he built?

Hopeful's died.

We thought he was gonna live forever.

He always, like, made out that he was.

He was probably a father figure to a lot of people, rightly or wrongly.

Just a lot of sadness and...

uncertainty of where...

the community would go or what was happening.

That was a really bad time.

It was really like

someone had ripped the engine off the boat and thrown it over,

and the boat was just drifting here and there.

You know, there was a bit of unrest there for a point of time.

Before he died, my dad had trained up a real loyal pack.

I mean, I can only liken it to, like, a really loyal pack of dogs.

You are not welcome here.

Men, I want you all to gather round.

Please leave. You're trespassing.

Gather round, men. Gather round.

Howard has been one of my dad's disciples right from the start.

He was extremely loyal to him.

He was the one who learned the tricks of the trade the best,

and so he became the most qualified, in my dad's opinion, to take over.

Howard Temple, the frail 82-year-old leader of Gloriavale,

arriving at the Employment Court to give evidence.

Thank you.

My name is Howard Temple.

I became an Overseeing Shepherd in May 2018.

I took up this role on the passing of Hopeful Christian.

I am an American citizen by birth.

I volunteered into the United States Navy at 19 years old.

I married a New Zealand girl, and when my time was expired with the Navy,

I was discharged in New Zealand.

At what stage did you join the community with your wife?

1970.

- And so you would've been about 30 years old. - 30 years old.

Howard Temple's a nice, genuine sort of guy

that got caught up in the wrong thing and trained by the wrong leader

and is now in a position believing things to be right that aren't and, um...

and trying to lead people how he's seen...

it modelled for him.

The wife is joined to the man by the law,

so long does the man liveth.

You have a very charismatic leader, a very powerful leader,

and he passes on, and the next person's gotta fill the shoes,

and so he

has to be very regulated and very...

rule-focused

to try and keep that order.

What a wonderful God that we have.

Amen.

Howard is really good at playing the nice guy and letting other people doing his dirtywork.

He's also very, very manipulative.

He's a snake. That's the best way I can say it.

What comes across from the briefs of the plaintiffs is

that they felt trapped for a period of time before they left the community.

Would you agree that for a lot of young people, particularly young women...

- Yes. - ...the costs of leaving Gloriavale, if they lived there all their lives,

were simply too high to take that step?

Yes.

We're working now to... make...

Well, say I'm willing to work first, but my main priority would be to keep them,

rather than let them go, but to keep them back here.

There's spiritual reasons for that.

They're my people.

When I left Gloriavale, they had booked me flights to Auckland.

I knew it was a city, but I didn't know anything about it.

I just knew Auckland must have been somewhere in New Zealand.

Because my mum grew up there, she had a school friend that she managed

to get in contact, and they said they would pick me up.

I remember them saying to me, 'Oh, how long are you staying for?'

And I was like, 'Um, I can't go back.'

But they had thought I was just coming to stay with them for a week

or something like I was going on a holiday.

So I had to explain to them that my family had cut me off, and I couldn't go back.

And― And so luckily, they did say I could, like, live with them, and they helped me navigateeverything.

Dad, thank you for buying hot chocolate.

Ooh, I didn't get it. Someone snuck it in the trolley.

No, I told you to get it.

Yeah, but I didn't.

You can adapt practically pretty quickly,

but mentally and spiritually, that's a long, long journey.

The hardest thing was probably how I fitted in out here, because it was a whole new world.

Basically, it's like learning to read and write again,

to understand a new language and how the social life works out here,

or what's expected and what's not, and what's normal to eat for dinner.

I just― There's just so much.

I was continuously, like, second-guessing myself.

I was 18. Like, I was supposed to be a teenager, but I didn't feel like a teenager.

And so, like, conversation-wise, I was like, 'I don't know what to talk about.'

Like, I know how to make cheese, but I don't know what Taylor― who Taylor Swift is.

Which one do you wanna get? Which green?

Shall we keep moving?

Come on, guys. Hey, you have to keep up with Mum.

Don't get lost.

If you actually think about the logistics of somebody leaving, you realise how difficultit is.

You don't have a licence, you don't have a car, you don't have a phone.

Like, you don't even know the value of money.

Like, if someone gave a Gloriavale person $20, they would think, 'Wow, awesome, I'm rich.'

Yep, just wait. Like, Esther's gonna do it, but you can help her. You can pass her things, OK?

They tell you when you live in there that people leave

and then they want to go back, but the Devil traps them.

That's not true.

People find themselves, they find who they are, and they find out who God really is.

And...

who would ever choose to go back to prison?

- OK, what I wanna do, can we do leavers' updates? - Yes.

A young person has left recently.

She didn't have anything. She didn't have an original birth certificate,

she didn't have photo ID, she didn't even have a bank account. So she's had to start fromscratch.

She's 20.

I am the secretary on the trust, but my role would be to do my best

at representing the Gloriavale women and what their general needs are.

No one else on the trust board has lived there, so that's our role,

is actually just we've lived it. We know what it's like.

And, like, I can just go, 'All right, reverse 15 years, ' I'm in that head space.

I can understand how I was thinking then, but if you've never lived there, it's really difficult.

You can come at it from a theoretical perspective,

but you don't know the emotions and everything that you actually go through.

It's even just having people that understand biblical lingo

and that not everything's black and white. Like, there's grey stuff.

Cos in Gloriavale, everything is black and white. - Yeah.

There's a huge amount of change from when we left.

We took a tent when we left cos we didn't know where we'd be staying.

And now, most people, someone on the trust gets some information before they actually leave,

and we can have something set up for them,

whether that's a house or somewhere for them to live when they do leave.

That's a massive change in 10 years from when we left.

Is the vacuum cleaner going in as well?

Um, yes.

Let's feed boxes down here.

These are people coming out like refugees.

Let's do the smallest house, which is house two.

Let's just get that sorted out of the side, and then we'll know everything else is house one.

You're helping them set up from scratch.

So you're talking entire house-loads, you're talking jobs, house rental, vehicles.

You've gotta think about everything that someone might need if they've just stepped off from,

you know, another world and landed on your doorstep.

Just like that. - Yeah, that's gonna be good like that.

At the moment, things are pretty rocky inside Gloriavale,

and there are people sort of getting out to the edges or leaving.

Our aim is to always have one whole house-load ready to go at any moment.

Give us four hours' notice, we will load up a trailer,

and we will deliver a house-load of furniture to whoever needs it.

♪ So much doubt up here on the wasteland.

♪ Like we're sinners

♪ come undone.

♪ Ain't no water to chastise me,

♪ No shade under Christ's apple tree.

♪ I weary with the toil.

♪ All you guys better open your eyes,

♪ get us out of

♪ this god damn mess

♪ and fight for...

- Hi, Boaz. - Hello.

- How you doing? - Yeah, doing all right, going all right.

- Do you want a hug? - Yeah, OK, yeah, why not? - Nice.

Nice to see you.

Hello.

- Lovely. - Yeah.

- Your wife needs ya. - OK, righto.

So we'll unload this.

My wife said to me, 'If you do go, I'm not gonna stay here without you.'

But now I think it's actually starting to dawn on me, the consequences of my actions.

Just thinking about what's actually happened, cos it's all in a rush.

It's actually finally hitting me that, yeah, I have moved.

Gloriavale is all I've ever known.

And a million questions going through your mind ― just how do I live out in society?

You all right? You got itchy legs?

You want a cuddle.

We're heading out for the first time with three kids, nearly four, it's kind of like...

It's massive.

Thank you.

Me and my wife are just scared, I mean really scared.

I mean, just everything ― organising rent, kids going to school or sports.

It's something you've never done before, you neverhadto do it before,

because our life that we've lived at Gloriavale caters for a lot of those things.

But now you've gotta think of everything.

Then there's a baby coming in seven weeks. So that― I mean―

Even everything else, that on top is just another 'how do I do it?'

Again, how― how― how do I cope?

How do I even do this?

- Mummy. - You want Mummy? OK

The biggest thing of all is I want to make sure that my kids have the support from their motherand father.

Finding out years later, when I've even got kids of my own, the stuff that he did,

it was just so hard to even understand that and just try and even live with the knowledgeof that.

That's why

I put so much emphasis on...

family, and especially my family, because...

I don't want those sort of things happening to my kids.

Basically my one goal in life is, one, to serve God

and to also make sure my family has...

someone that they can look up to.

The expectation is that the members would have children

who would become baptised members of the community.

That's what would be expected, yes.

But you've got them sitting up on the base of the mountain range dividing New Zealand,

and they have no access...

to the outside world, except what you approve.

That's right? - That is right.

Separation is the main reason and the main policy to keep the children in the community, isn't it?

Yes, I suppose if you took it on further to that degree, yes.

It is to keep them out of some of the influences outside of the community

that would prevent them coming to a faith in God.

- Coming to a faith in God... - Yes. - ...that you are teaching

and wanting to impose on them through ignorance ― do you agree?

Not through ignorance, no.

I want to impose it on them, but not through ignorance.

But they're totally ignorant of the world and worldliness, aren't they?

No, they're not.

You keep them separated because they just might enjoy the life, correct?

They just might do that, yes.

When I left, I had to navigate getting a job and what I wanted to do with my life.

I didn't know what I could dream growing up, but I always was, like,

jealous that men in Gloriavale could study things.

So I decided to go to university and get a degree in occupational therapy.

Hi, JJ.

Does JJ have any toys? - I'm gonna put him on that side, because he's caught.

JJ, hi.

I'm just gonna...

My life wasn't just for having kids, but it has been a rollercoaster of a ride.

Like, it's a journey, and I'm still, like, on that journey of, like, finding myself

and having a voice and knowing that women can have a voice,

and I can be heard and have my own career as a woman.

Today a bombshell in court ― details emerging that before his death,

Hopeful Christian had already started a second Gloriavale community in southern India.

Five new Zealand women have been living in the Indian community for over a decade.

Married off to Indian men to replicate the New Zealand Gloriavale in India.

You also mentioned a number of times during the course of your evidence

that you had been travelling to India ― do you recall those references?

Yes, we went there as a community, over there operating on the same principles that we operate on.

- And are you the Overseeing Shepherd of that community in India? - Oh, I would be, yes.

Gloriavale in New Zealand...

supports Gloriavale in India ― is that right? - Yes.

Hopeful deciding to set up a community in India

is pretty up there with one of the most shocking things he would've thought of doing.

They found some farmland in South India...

and purchased it.

He sold it to us as expanding our Christian faith,

and India was a third-world country, and they needed a lot of help,

so that would be a good place to convert some people.

I think my dad liked the idea of going to somewhere like India and building another kingdom.

They might have hoped to be able to, you know, have another place they could go to,

I suppose, if they were getting in trouble, a sort of a haven to escape persecution possibly.

I'm Willing.

I'm Ready.

I'm Faithful.

Faithful would've been 10 or 11 when they brought him to New Zealand,

and he went to school with us.

He was actually the only boy that was allowed to take cooking classes with the girls.

So Hopeful was training him to be able to do everything

so that he could start the community in India.

Beauty

and the beast.

Dad got a young boy of about 16 or 17 and made him into a leader.

He was a puppet, really.

He just worshiped Hopeful and, like, did whatever he wanted,

and I think that's sort of what he's carried on over there.

And it became a good way to get rid of a whole lot of girls,

because in Gloriavale, there was an imbalance of girls to boys;

and in India, the opposite way, so they sent the girls over there.

One other thing is there's definitely been abuse victims sent there.

You know, that...

And that gets them away, get them married off, you know, out of their hair.

They are, you know, given Gloriavale choice, you know, which is obey the leaders or go tohell.

Yeah, so it's free choice

Around the time when I was 14 or 15, Hopeful called, like, all the single girls into a meeting.

He put it to them like, 'We want some women to put their hand up to go.'

My sister put her hand up.

But you do things like that, because you wanna 'look good' in the leader's eyes,

and you want to be putting your trust in God...

but I think she wanted to get away from the home environment that we had.

We experienced a lot of trauma just in our own little family

from watching my parents' whole situation...

and watching my dad beat my mum until she saw stars.

We all felt helpless, so that was like an escape for her.

Precious' wedding was supposed to be 'an example' to the Indians that you had to forsake yourfamily,

and so her wedding had to be in India, and none of our family were allowed to go to the wedding.

She was chosen to marry a man with polio.

He can't walk without crutches.

He can't stand on his feet upright.

He's not even gonna have the ability to be a New Zealand citizen

or even survive in India because of his condition,

and so how could there be a future for their whole family outside of the community?

It's like they've almost set them up so that they are trapped.

The number you have called is invalid.

Please check the number and dial again.

2-5-2.

9-3.

Let's try this.

Hello, hi.

Is this the community in India?

Theo. I'm Precious' sister.

Yes, yeah, I'm Honey.

Theo.

Can I talk to Precious?

Could I talk to my sister? - Yes.

Hello.

- Hello, can you hear me? - Hello? - It's Theo.

How have you been? It's been so long since I've chatted to you.

I haven't been able to get through. - Oh. Ha.

Yeah, I'm still in New Zealand. I'm still alive.

Yeah, yeah.

I'm still your sister.

Oh wow. What number's that?

Far out, time's gone fast.

Is it just you'll just stay there forever?

Well, they always have said that the Lord's coming back.

Yeah, well, hopefully we can connect and reunite before the Lord comes back.

Maybe I'll come to India one day and visit ya.

The kids can meet their auntie.

Yeah.

Well, I miss you lots. I haven't seen you since I was 15.

Yeah.

- All right. - All right.

I'll let you go.

Love you.

Bye.

Ah, very intense,

but good. It's probably the longest conversation I've had with her.

I think that whole thing of, like, the Lord's gonna come back

is, like, her coping mechanism to know that it's gonna end.

Like, she's not gonna be living like that forever ―

which is sort of sad. Like, life is more than just surviving, isn't it?

She would probably freak out if I turned up in India.

I don't think she believed me that I would come.

I've talked to media,

and I've talked to lawyers,

I've talked to the Human Rights Commission,

and everybody says the same thing, that they want help, but they think it's too hard,

and nobody's actually been there to see if they're OK.

So my conclusion is that I have to be the one that goes to India to see in reality

how she's actually living on an everyday basis.

So this is the laundry and the sewing room.

- Together? - Yep.

We went and found fabric that was the same colour in India... - In India?

...but it was thinner, and it was a slightly―

See how that's like a dusty blue? - Yeah.

'Elijah and I were sent there about 14 years ago to help set up the community.

'Elijah went to do a lot of fencing on the farm,

'and I went to set up the kitchen and teach the girls how to sew.

'So they obviously made them wear our uniforms,

'and they have to eat our food as well.'

I felt really sorry for them, because they love their curries, they love their food.

It's their culture, and you're just taking that all off them and saying

that they can't have it, because it's not Christian ― and it's just not true.

So we fly

in Kerala

and Thiruvananthapuram.

Yeah, that's the one. Does anybody know the address?

Are you just gonna wing it?

Oh, we're getting closer. - Ooh!

Oh, there's the canal. The road comes in here.

- That's the road there, isn't it? - Yeah. - Yeah, that's it.

- And here, this is the gate here. - Yeah, that's it.

It's important that we go and check on them.

Like, who's going to see them and make sure that those girls are actually OK?

We could open the children's mind up to― Like, they don't even know who I am.

The thing is, you might not see the result of what you do

when you're there... - No.

...but 10 years later, there'll be stories that lead back to that point.

- Yeah. - Mm.

- When are you guys going? - In two weeks. - Oh yeah.

I want to like put my head under, but it might get knocked off.

Yeah.

It's very real now, haven't been sleeping great, been a bit anxious,

but then I just keep remembering what the focus is.

Theo hasn't seen her sister for 10 years, and I've come as a support to her.

And I've been here before, and we're here to make sure those girls are OK ― and their kids.

I think the fear is of the rejection of, like, her not wanting to see me,

but knowing she would want to see me if she wasn't part of the cult.

Someone did just beep their horn ― it's the vehicle we're in.

That's how you drive here. You just beep your horn at people.

No, it's a big van. It's like a party bus, actually.

You kids would have a great party in here.

Bye Zac, I love you too!

I've tried to dress conservatively, cos it can be quite a roadblock.

I'm trying to remove as many roadblocks as possible.

I'll put a bit, like, up here now.

I've grown into a woman that they probably don't know,

and I'm not controlled by men anymore, which I was when they last knew me.

My sister, she's sort of come to terms with, 'This is my life.

'I'm never going to ever live in New Zealand again. That's not even an option.'

I want to tell her that that is an option.

And then also, just their living situation

and her access to money, whether she has a phone, and the kids' schooling as well.

I really wanna find out whether they have access

to their passports or their birth certificates, cos we never did in Gloriavale.

I want to find out if there's any way out.

What would she do if she wanted to ask for help?

I remember this, and I remember that pond there.

We've come a long way. It's a huge expense and a lot of logistics.

We're gonna try and just rock up.

By just going from Gloriavale experience,

if you call ahead, they get really frightened,

and they have time to prepare ― or maybe hide Precious even.

I feel like the element of surprise is probably the best way to actually get to see them.

We're here to check on those girls

and make sure that they've got a way out, because even if they don't feel like they want to leave now,

that time might come, could come for their children.

Remember those kids and go and do the right thing.

Same.

- It's recording. - Right.

Yeah. See you!

I wonder if it's who you think it is.

Is it him? - He does look familiar.

Hello. - Hi.

Are you good?

- Hello. - Hello.

- I'm scared. - Hey, what's the worst they can do to us ― be mean?

We're tough, we've got thick skin.

Hi, kids.

Where are the grownups?

Down this way?

Oh, shit.

Hey, girls.

What are your names?

Angel?

And? - Prudence. - Prudence.

This is Theo. She's Precious' sister.

- Precious is up there. - Should we just keep walking? - Yeah.

OK, cool.

Thank you.

Hello.

How's it going?

Yes.

Rosanna came with me.

- The unexpected. - The unexpected.

Very. Hello.

- Hello. - Nice to see you.

Yeah.

Who's this?

- Hello, Overcomer. - Hi.

I'm Auntie Theo. I'm Mum's sister.

I came from New Zealand.

It is hot.

We're doing some traveling and thought we'd pop in and say hi.

Hello, what's your name?

Oh my gosh, you're Faithful!

Sorry!

I don't mean― You've grown― grown up, I guess. Sorry.

- I've been sick. - Oh, that's not good.

What are your names?

Bernice.

- Bernice and Benevolence. - Bernice and Benevolence? - Yeah.

- And how many altogether then? - Nine. - Nice.

- 32 children born here? - Yeah, in the community.

And five families?

Yeah, so you've got a very young population.

- Yeah, yeah, yeah. - Yeah.

Pretty much.

- Hello. - Hello.

I'm Theo, Precious' sister.

- My name is Truth. - Yeah, nice to meet you ― finally.

You'll probably remember me as Honey, yeah. - Yeah.

You must have been surprised to see me.

- When do you think you'll come to New Zealand? - Oh, I don't know.

- Do you still have an up-to-date passport? - Yeah, yeah.

Do you just keep it in your room?

- Oh, how come you can't― Is it so they don't get lost or― - Yeah, yeah.

Have the kids even got passports?

Oh, true.

She was quite different from what I remember.

She used to be quite confident and, like, people used to mock her for being really bossy growing up.

She was just really quiet. Instead of replying, she would just do this nervous laugh.

She looked lifeless, like she was just surviving.

How is that choice made about girls who go over to India to marry Indian men?

There's announcement that is made,

you know, that there's a young man there who would like to get married.

Would there be any girls here want to go and marry the man and live in India?

So Mr Temple, when you say it's up to them,

the Gloriavale leadership would make the announcement

and wait to hear from a young woman saying she was interested in that option,

or would it be something that was discussed with a young woman,

the possibility that she might take up that option?

I can only know of one happening...

where it was put to a girl ― would she like to go?

And so, for all except for one, they asked the leadership

to let them go to India to marry a young Indian man?

Yes, ask her if she would like to.

And for one person, it was a discussion,

and it was suggested that might be something that person would want to do.

Yes, yeah.

Precious isn't the Precious I remember.

She's not, not at all.

That's why I was a bit, like a bit shocked, like, confused.

- Yeah. - Yeah.

- Just a bit concerned. - Interesting.

Some of the women more than others, seemed quite downtrodden

and lacking in confidence to even speak or to be around us.

They didn't show a lot of emotion.

It's hard to leave Gloriavale in New Zealand simply because you know nothing about life on theoutside.

And how much harder is that here in India?

They're isolated by location.

It's a million times harder for them to leave.

I guess it could be like a prison for them,

cos I mean, they are stuck there, and they barely go out.

In terms of physically, the conditions of the place was very rundown.

The fact that she didn't have a door on their bathroom.

Like, that's a basic thing to have on a toilet.

She said, 'Oh, lucky I was awake the other night at 11 o'clock.

'There was a snake in our room, and it was poisonous.'

The fact that little babies are in that environment, it's pretty horrific.

I asked my nieces and nephew, the 6-year-old, 'Oh, can you write your name with me?'

And he didn't even know how to spell it, let alone write it,

and the 9-year-old couldn't read.

Even for Gloriavale standards, school here was, like,

on a whole nother level of, like, what the hell?

- All grass there. We'll just graze it with the cows. - Oh yeah.

- How do you plant it, though ― by hand? - Yeah.

I was really concerned at how my sister would react

and how the leader, Faithful, would interfere with me actually being able to have some time with her.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Mm.

'I don't trust him, because he's part of the Gloriavale system.'

When you talk to him, it's like the same sentences

and the same things that the leaders in Gloriavale use. It's just, like, another mimic.

But the thing is, he's following 'Hopeful's dream'.

It's not his dream; it's what Hopeful wanted.

Oh, you should protect them.

Yeah, exactly.

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah.

He was really concerned that we were gonna go back to New Zealand

and put him at risk and the community there at risk.

I think they're already at risk.

I have a responsibility. I've seen what I've seen, and their normal isn't normal.

It's my youngest niece. She's almost 2.

And Mummy's gonna have another baby.

Your auntie came a long way to meet you.

There's a real feeling of sadness there, and I can't actually shake that still.

I felt guilty walking away.

They're my friends, and...

it was really hard for me to see them in that position, and just― and even to think myself,

like, I've had three babies with no support from my family...

just because I left Gloriavale,

yet they've― one of them's had nine, one's had six,

and they're stuck in India away from any friends and family.

They have each other, and that's all, and there's five of them.

And, yeah, it breaks my heart to see them like that,

and I'd just love to stay there and help them.

I'm not sure that they'll have me back,

but I definitely wanna go home and think about it and see what I can do.

I just really wanna see those kids have a good life...

and understand that God's will for them isn't to suffer.

Precious and her husband didn't choose to marry each other.

I think she holds on to the fact that the Lord's gonna come back.

There's not a lot of hope or a future in terms of what do they look forward to? There's nothing.

I did some, like, drawing with the kids.

The two boys drew me two separate pictures of, like, flowers.

I'm gonna get a tattoo on my arm of, like, the two pictures together.

It did really confirm to me how lucky I am to actually have choices

and to be independent and to have gotten the education that I've now gotten,

and to have control over my life and what I eat every day

and what clothes I wear and who I am as a person

and to have my own individual values.

I've got to use...

the knowledge I've gotten from not living in Gloriavale

to actually help my sister and the other woman there and their kids to actually get help.

A court has heard Gloriavale women were entrapped,

enslaved and lived in servitude at the Christian community on the final day of a long-running case.

The six women who've brought the case say they worked long, hard hours

on Gloriavale's domestic teams, and were exposed to workplace sexual harassment.

Brian Henry says the community's leaders were too scared to stand up

to their dictatorial founder ― and convicted sex offender ― Hopeful Christian.

Chief Judge Christina Inglis says in reserving her decision,

she promised to think hard about the issues and to deliver a judgment as soon as she can.

I've got some interesting stuff here for you, Boaz.

This is clips of your grandfather fighting for your freedom before you were born.

Hm.

There that the church stopped...

Looks a bit like you.

There'd be a big blazing fire,

and there'd be carpets all over the floor and sheepskin spread out,

and maybe anything up to 10, 12 married couples.

And Neville would teach on marriage,

and then finally, he got game, and he started to teach on sex.

I was involved in that multiple sexual contact between married couples.

I was involved in the nudity in the spa pool.

For nine years, he has not seen or heard from his wife, his son,

and two daughters still living in the community.

And I have 19 grandchildren, and I only know seven of them.

You know seven of your 19 grandchildren?

I've never seen the other ones.

He had this jar...

and in the jar was this wooden object.

And it looked very much like this.

And he said to me,

'I'm going to use this

'to stretch your muscles.'

I felt like I was being ripped in two.

I― I― I just honestly can't believe

how they can call themselves Christians.

I just don't think I can see them in any other light than just a perverted cult.

Listening to― to― to my grandfather say that back then...

10 or 12 couples, which would be lots of those leaders, would've been in that circle doingthat,

and yet they can say they didn't know that it was going on. They are just lying,

cos they themselves have been so damaged by Neville

that they will actually back him up in his evil and perversion.

The whole underlying foundation of what Gloriavale is based on is based on that.

But the thing is

is that I grew up in that... culture.

A little chip off the grandfather's block.

I've never seen a photo of him before, but to even know what he was doing, even before I was even born,

I mean, that's just incredible to watch that.

Hello, this is Boaz.

- Hi, Boaz, how are you? - Oh, I'm doing all right.

- How long have you been out? - It's coming up six months now.

- It's not easy, is it? - Uh, no, it is not easy.

You know that I spent quite a bit of time with your grandpa

and also your auntie. - Yeah.

And have you seen the footage of that?

Uh, actually, I have. I happened to watch it last night.

Well, the thing that actually struck me the hardest

was actually the things that he was talking about and the things that he was foreseeing

that were gonna happen have actually happened,

and some of them have even happened to me.

He made

a very public stand going...

on air with us

and doing those interviews

and so did your auntie Yvette.

I think my first thought in hearing what my auntie was talking about, I was just like,

'I don't know why I didn't get out of there sooner.'

- You've got good lineage, you have. - Yeah.

Yeah, up until last night, I thought I was at the bottom of the tree,

but, yeah, I think after watching that, I feel like I'm a few pegs higher.

You should feel like that.

You should feel... You absolutely should,

because as a very brave and very strong person to come out and speak like your grandfatherdid.

'I think what I can do to honour his memory is to actually carry on

'that fight to stop the wrong that's happening.'

I owe it to even the people that I grew up with and all the people there that have been hurt anddamaged,

and I owe it to them to fight against the wrong ― not fight against people ―

but fight against the wrong that's happening. You gotta go down fighting.

You can't just give up because it might seem hard.

Good boy.

She was explained, 'You go to India for the rest of your life and build a church.'

Obviously, my sister will be trapped here.

Yeah, we'll look after them. We looked after them all these years, right?

I believe all those five sisters are in my hands,

I really believe that. I'm responsible for each one of them.

- He referred to them as 'my sisters'. - Yeah.

- It's almost like he's possessive over them, and he owns them. - Yeah.

What is rape?

Raping is it happens from one side. - Yeah.

Indian men are very forceful around woman. It's part of the culture,

and there's a lot of Indian men will force themselves on to a lot of women.

It was interesting that he just out of the blue said, 'What is rape?'

We intended to go there, but he brought that up ― what is rape?

Why would she not be able to come back to New Zealand again?

The children don't have passports,

and there's no money to go back.

- And some of their kids don't have birth certificates either. - Yeah.

So they've been living there undocumented?

- Yeah. - Mm-hm.

I mean, there is growing concern internationally in terms of human rights,

particularly of women and children

who are being moved across borders... - Yeah.

...and sort of first principles I'd say some very searching questions need to be asked.

Yeah.

- Can you consent when you are born into Gloriavale? - Yeah, exactly.

And so we've got people who've been moved out of New Zealand, and you have welfare concerns,

and so we need to sort of set about thinking about what is the solution to that problem?

Yeah.

Yeah, it's a very unique situation.

She's my sister,

and she is a person,

and she deserves the right to live a full and happy life...

and choose to be her...

and to be heard...

and my goal is...

that I will not let her be forgotten.

A landmark ruling from the Employment Court has found

six former Gloriavale women were employees and not volunteers.

The judge said in a typical week,

the female workforce in the kitchen produced more than 11,000 meals;

and in the laundry, they washed 17,000 items.

Judge Christina Inglis said she was left with no doubt

they worked extremely hard and under punishing conditions.

You've actually put a real stake in the ground

in this judgment about the role of women and expectations that women do things for free.

She's also found that you were taught to be happy doing the grind...

and the impact once you finally get out,

you haven't been equipped in any way to deal with it.

The Overseeing Shepherd is in control, and he was actually quite unusual as a witness,

because he just seemed eager to tell us how powerful he was.

And he actually came up and apologised to Dennis and me,

cos he thought he had totally destroyed our case.

- That's how much they believe in themselves. - Yeah.

They've totally trapped themselves in the culture they created.

Yeah, they have, but the thing is they totally believe it now.

Standing up to people that have ruled your life

since you were born...

pretty courageous.

I haven't been allowed to speak or have an opinion my whole life.

Just being able to speak and tell my story, and then for it to be believed was just so incredible.

We've been successful.

Smells like slavery, sounds like slavery, in my opinion, is slavery.

But this is the nature of the organisation, and they are built on child labor.

The evidence from Gloriavale is, this will end their way of life. We'll see.

- I can say something. - OK, Pearl.

Gloriavale feels like they're victims in this case ―

and they are victims, but not of this case; they're victims of the culture they've created,

and that's what we wanna see changed. We wanna see the culture changed.

♪ Don't you know who I am?

♪ Don't you know who I am?

♪ Don't you know who I am?

♪ It's God's will to stamp what's mine.

♪ It's God's words that bite your tongue and marks me divine.

♪ The moment we lay our hands on the world...

That'll do, won't it? You're one-armed bandit.

♪ Don't you know who I am?

Often, we don't want to tell our whole story,

but it's a service we have to humanity, sometimes ― to tell our story.

♪ Don't you know who I am?

- Hey! - How are ya?

- How are ya, mate! - Yeah, yeah.

I haven't seen you for years and years.

'To say to right the wrongs, that would be a pretty high calling.

'I don't think that's something I'd be capable of,

'but I try to live life by making every encounter

'with every person to try and be genuine, kind and honest.'

It's really you that I came over here to see.

Well, when I say you, that's you and, and, and, and...

♪ Don't you know who I am?

The discussion went something like this.

Haven't seen you in ages.

How are ya? - Yeah, I'm OK.

I haven't seen...

'Admitting to the faults and failings of the past and trying to move on from them.'

♪ Don't you know who I am?

Fireworks! Fireworks! Fireworks!

Fireworks! Fireworks!

- It's gonna be really nice to bring my kids over and for them to meet... - Yeah.

...to meet all the other kids, because they―

- Catch up with their friends that they had, yeah. - That's right.

Cos some of them, they haven't seen for years.

The best thing about life on the outside is our family being family.

And I know that we could lose everything we've acquired over the past nine to 10 years,

and material things can come and go, friends can come and go...

but our family would still be a family...

and that's all that matters.

Just what the heck is this?

- It's my hair, Mum! - Wow!

It's beautiful!

Oh, I tell you what.

Gloriavale's Overseeing Shepherd, Howard Temple, can tonight be revealed as theman

accused of indecent assault against 10 young girls.

It's alleged he offended over two decades

involving Gloriavale residents, some as young as 9.

Howard, do you have any comment to make about the allegations?

Nothing at this time.

They want to destroy every good thing in your life...

but I won't let them.

The day will come...

when people will be able to...

to make their own decisions...

and to

have a time of

sorting out

all the years that have gone past.

Yeah.

That day will come.

♪ Before the dark,

♪ when all the candles, they were lit to form a pyre

♪ to declare

♪ she was a liar,

♪ and in the heat, I sang your name in my desire.

♪ The burning night,

♪ I was the earth beneath your feet, and you, the light.

♪ And I can see

♪ me in your eyes

♪ close enough to catch a glimpse ahead of what lies. ♪

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