(kaiwind.com)According to Stuff.co. nz，five children have been removed from reclusive Christian cult Gloriavale by Child Youth and Family (CYF) staff following allegations of abuse at the community. In March 2015 , some cult members fled the commune, presented to the press, they were subjected to brainwash and corporal punishment abuse inside the community. Young girls suffered sexual assault. In May 2, 2015 the New Zealand Herald opined that the community does comply with certain features of the cult. and borrow a lot of ideas from "Cult Inside Out" by Rick Ross. the community met three basic criteria followed by destructive cults.
A Gloriavale leader Fervent Stedfast told Stuff.co.nz the brothers and sisters were taken by Child Youth and Family staff, It follows allegations earlier this year of physical and sexual abuse inside the closed West Coast Christian community.
Gloriavale community
“Yes they were taken but they have been returned, the children were ‘healthy and happy’ back at Gloriavale with their parents. ” said Stedfast.
The paper said CYFs was reportedly investigating claims the five children, believed to be aged between seven and 15, had been subjected to physical abuse including being smacked hard and beaten with sticks.
Cult members
The children have two older sisters, both now aged in their 20s. One fled Gloriavale three years ago and the other two years ago. The sisters told TV3's Campbell Live in April they were both subjected to sexual, verbal and physical abuse inside the community.
Interview picture
One was "shunned" and kept in isolation at age 14 because of a relationship with a boy. she was kept alone in a primitive bush shack without food for four weeks as punishment. The sisters said they had been beaten from the age of five. The sisters claimed child abuse was "not unusual".
The sisters also claimed they had been forced to fast because the community leaders considered them overweight.
Fairfax Media understands the five children were in CYF care for between two and three weeks before they were returned.
The sisters said they had not seen their brothers and sisters while they were care and only knew their siblings had been taken when their estranged mother contacted them from inside Gloriavale to ask if they knew of their whereabouts.
CYF would not respond to questions about why the children had been uplifted and returned.
"In many cases it is not helpful for children and families involvement with Child, Youth and Family to be played out in public. As a result we generally do not confirm nor deny Child, Youth and Family involvement and will not be responding to your request in this instance," said a spokeswoman.
Police declined to comment specifically on the removal of the children. The separate investigation into allegations of abuse at Gloriavale was "proving to be a slow process".
The community's leader, Hopeful Christian, was sentenced to six years in prison on eleven charges of indecent assault in 1994 but the Court of Appeal quashed the sentences and his convictions and ordered a new trial.
Old man in the picture is Hopeful
He was found guilty on three charges of sexual abuse on young community members at his second trial in December 1995.
Background：
Gloriavale Christian Community is a small Christian group based at Haupiri on the West Coast of the South Island in New Zealand. They were founded in the 1969 by Neville Cooper (Hopeful Christian), who in 1994 was jailed for elevn months for indecent assault upon several young girls and women. Community said that 13 or 14 year-old girl has been able to conceive, so there is no statutory rape thing. A 23-year-old man does not need to take responsibility for having sex with girls.
