Accessible News

Top storiesNew ZealandPoliticsBusinessEntertainmentSportsWorld

'It's just your body, no big deal': Gloriavale leaders allegedly told women to not fear what men did to them

Friday, 2 September 2022

Virginia Courage, pictured at Gloriavale, says she was forced to work when her baby was sick.
Virginia Courage, pictured at Gloriavale, says she was forced to work when her baby was sick.

Warning: This story discusses details of alleged sexual abuse.

A former Gloriavale member says inappropriate touching of women and children became part of the culture, with leaders telling women “I shall not fear what man do to me”.

“They demanded a cuddle…Any man could approach any girl or woman and inappropriately touch them,” Virginia Courage told the Christchurch Employment Court on Friday.

Overseeing shepherds would tell members that, as Christians, there was nothing they could do to protect their wives from being raped or molested.

They would tell women not to make a fuss over their bodies, she said.

**READ MORE:

Gloriavale members arrive at the Employment Court in Christchurch on Thursday.
Gloriavale members arrive at the Employment Court in Christchurch on Thursday.

* Gloriavale employment case urgent to ensure other females' safety

* Police letter to Gloriavale reveals places where harmful sexual behaviour was rife

* Founder's son fails to give evidence for Gloriavale in Employment Court

**

“It’s just your body, no big deal, you’re not going to take this body to heaven … I shall not fear what man do to me, remember?”

The community’s leaders would justify inappropriate touching of children by demanding “a holy kiss and cuddle”, Courage said.

Older men would respond “they love it” when mothers would question them about touching the children.

Gloriavale businesses have links to the dairy and meat processing industries, and provide work for transport companies.

“The children are not the most important thing in Gloriavale. Making money is.

“I was revolted and angry for a long time.”

Courage said she was forced to work despite her 13-month-old being sick, and rushed back when she heard the child screaming to find her alone.

She’d told the overseeing shepherds about the baby being unwell, and a carer was to be sorted so she could continue with her domestic duties for the community.

She could hear her child screaming from her work station. She found her baby in a bedroom alone, screaming in pain, with the door shut.

Courage is one of six women arguing in the Employment Court they should have been recognised as employees, not volunteers for the domestic work they did for years at the religious sect.

Courage, a mother of 11, left the community in February 2019 after “un-Christian behaviour” became common, the court heard on Friday.

“I became extremely concerned for the safety of my children,” she told the court.

Courage also described a class system being present in the community, similar to Pearl Valor’s evidence, where single, unmarried women are “at the very bottom”.

Marriage was a “stamp of approval” in the community, Courage said, with the overseeing shepherds often questioning the single women’s desire to live within the community and their allegiance to it.

Gloriavale member Luke Valor arrives at the Employment Court in Christchurch on Thursday.
Gloriavale member Luke Valor arrives at the Employment Court in Christchurch on Thursday.

“From my experience as an unmarried person, I was at the bottom of the community. The shepherds were always growling at us.”

Babies were not allowed to travel outside the community with their mothers and breastfeeding was mandatory. This meant if women went to town, another woman would have to breastfeed their child.

“The baby would have an awful time being breastfed by another woman, and it would distress the mothers, who fought this in the only way Gloriavale women know how – silently. They tried to sneak around the system as it was horrible that they would take your miserable baby from you.”

On Thursday, Valor told the court “higher class” members (relatives of leaders) were given access to special foods and dental care, while others were left with staple food items or, some days, no food at all.

Leaders would control members by using food “as a weapon” – taking food away from those who did not follow the rules, and giving it to those who conformed, she said.

On more than one occasion, between three and five people were tasked with cooking for the full community of 600.

The women giving evidence are Virginia Courage, Pearl Valor, Serenity Pilgrim, Rose Standtrue, Anna Courage and Crystal Loyal.

Gloriavale leaders deny claims the women were employees.

Where to get help: