Gloriavale's Overseeing Shepherd, Howard Temple is facing 24 charges of sexual assault and doing an indecent act. Photo: The Press/Kai Schwoerer
Former Gloriavale members have told a court they were touched, grabbed and groped by the Overseeing Shepherd Howard Temple, on the second day of his trial in Greymouth.
Temple has pleaded not guilty to 24 charges of sexual assault and doing an indecent act.
Four complainants gave evidence and were cross examined by Temple's legal team, recounting similar stories of being touched on their breasts, bottoms and legs or grabbed around the waist.
Temple became spiritual leader in 2018, after the death of Gloriavale founder Hopeful Christian, but was a senior shepherd at the time of much of the alleged abuse, which is said to have taken place between 1997 and 2022, when the complainants were aged between nine and 20 years old.
At Gloriavale, young girls take on domestic duties from around the age of five, graduating from setting and clearing tables to serving to heavier kitchen chores and cleaning.
The complainants all said Temple took advantage of them waiting tables and serving food or drinks to touch them, caressing them from their calves to their lower back, or holding them around the waist.
Many of the women who gave evidence described trying to get to their chores early so they could be allocated to any table except Temple's.
One woman said he would grope her while she was holding large, heavy jugs of non-alcoholic cider, leaving her without "any hands free to protect myself".
"He would run his hand up and down my legs, and touch my bum, or put his arm around me. He would ask me if anyone had told me they loved me today."
She would usually "just shrug" because she was scared, "but if he persisted, I would often lie and said yes, someone has told me they loved me, because I didn't want him to say he loved me".
"If I tried to pull away he would ask me if I was scared of him and why I was scared of him."
The woman said this would happen while Temple was flanked by his wife and daughter and in front of the entire community of more than 500 people, "but no one ever spoke up or said anything, so I didn't know that I would be allowed to.
"I didn't know it was wrong, I just know it didn't feel right to me."
Temple was also alleged to have frequented the kitchen to "hug" the young women from behind while they were cooking or washing dishes.
Some claimed he kissed them on their necks, touched their breasts or made lewd remarks.
All of the women have emphasised the "complete" power Gloriavale's leadership wielded, as well a certainty they would not have been believed, or would have been blamed, if they had told anyone.
Asked why she feared Temple, one woman said it was because the leaders hold all the authority in Gloriavale, and "had the power to ruin your life".
"Right from a baby you're taught not to speak against the leaders. As a woman you're supposed to be meek and quiet with downcast eyes.
"When you do speak up about abuse that has happened, it was inevitably your fault because you seduced them somehow.
"I knew nothing good would come of saying anything. I didn't have anyone to protect me because my parents hold the leaders in ultimate authority and they would listen to the leaders over their own daughter."
One woman said when she did finally tell her mother about the abuse as she was leaving the community, her mother told her "she wasn't allowed to speak evil of the leaders and that they would never do something like that".
Another woman said she feared saying anything because on a previous occasion when she raised an unrelated issue, she was called into a "servants and shepherds meeting", taken into a room and "accused", with seven to 10 men telling her she was not living up to the standards of the bible, and that she was a sinner.
She said that would also result in a level of social shunning and wariness from other community members.
The complainants also described an environment of strict patriarchy, which meant women would be blamed for tempting men by showing hair under their headscarf, pushing up their sleeves or tying their belts incorrectly.
Temple's lawyers have accused the women of fabricating or embellishing their accusations.
Micheal Vesty said Temple accepted he hugged and kissed young women, but rejected any indecency and said it was always short, appropriate touching to express gratitude.
Judge Neave interrupted the cross examination several times, castigating Temple's legal team for some of the questions they asked the women.
Further complainants, family members and police officers who worked on the case will give evidence over coming days.
When the defence calls its witnesses, a number of Gloriavale members are expected to give evidence in support of Howard Temple.
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