Gloriavale’s leader Howard Temple is now a convicted sexual offender, after accepting he abused six girls and women at the West Coast commune.
The 85-year-old Overseeing Shepherd changed his plea to 12 charges on day three of his trial at the Greymouth District Court.
They included five charges of indecent assault, five charges for indecents act and two common assault charges.
A further 12 charges were dropped.
The 85-year-old changed his plea to 12 charges on day three of his trial that was scheduled to last three weeks. (Source: 1News)
Temple was remanded on bail to reappear in court in August. A date for his sentencing was yet to be set.
The charges related to unwanted touching, hugging, and kissing over more than two decades.
On Monday, 1News reported Temple’s offending was alleged to have taken place between 1998 and 2022, when the complainants were aged between nine and 20.
The trial was scheduled to last three weeks.
‘He’s guilty for all of you’
One of the women abused by Temple told 1News: “It’s important that all the girls Howard has offended against over 20-plus years feel validated by this guilty verdict.”
Her message to them was: “He’s guilty for all of you.”
“The charges he was found guilty of, for a small number of women, are only representative in my mind of the huge amount of damage and hurt he has caused over decades.”
