Gloriavale

The allegations were made at an Employment Court hearing, where it's being argued women there are employees - not volunteers as the leadership has claimed.

A court has heard a Gloriavale woman sometimes didn't eat or drink while working extremely long hours, and would get in trouble if she stopped.

He gave evidence in the Employment Court today before Chief Judge Christina Inglis in a case brought against Gloriavale by his daughter Serenity Pilgrim and ...

yelling at them in front of everyone else in the kitchen" for anything that was not up to their exacting standards. "You don't oppose the shepherds ... they are not unwitting, they are not sex slaves. they are not stupid, they are not brainwashed... they have made a different choice... "Leadership are allowed to touch the girls, any of the girls… "These women are not ignorant of the outside world... particularly the single girls… or overcooked". in there, I felt there wasn't any option." Yesterday the womens' lawyer Brian Henry said the court would hear evidence of that women in the community were expected to "scrub, cook and clean for the rest of their life" or be "pregnant for the rest of their life". even if nothing happened…

A former Gloriavale member has told the Employment Court he saw a culture of victim blaming during his time at the community.

Another former member of Gloriavale told the court of the "incredible pressure" to prepare meals for the entire community with only two others. Pearl Valor is the second woman to argue years of domestic work in the sect was as employees, rather than as volunteers. Serenity told the court of having to apologise to 600 Gloriavale members if chores were not completed before breakfast was served. Isaac told the court when inappropriate behaviour occurred involving male members of the sect, the girl's reputation was "tarnished" in the eyes of leaders. "They're usually labelled as whores and shamed in front of the community, even if nothing physical has occurred," he said. A former Gloriavale member has told the Employment Court he saw a culture of victim blaming during his time at the community.

Valour and her husband Paul became well known in New Zealand when their wedding featured in a documentary series about the West Coast sect that screened on TV2 ...

"The fire girl would have to get up at 4am to get the (wood ovens) started and clean it ... "You don't oppose the shepherds ... I thought 'okay, there's a bit of dishonesty here'." the cleaning would take a while, and you'd want that hot by 5am," she said. He said the leavers were "embittered" and their accounts were "plainly untrue". He said to put it simply, within the community women were expected to "scrub, cook and clean for the rest of their life" or be "pregnant for the rest of their life". I felt like owed them," she explained. "They were under the control of the shepherds and had no freedom," he said. They had to use cumbersome wood ovens and "got in trouble" if they used the electric oven. "I hated that they put rules and restrictions on the girls but the boys were still able to do what they liked," said Valour. "When I was first working there were no rules as to when you would get up to start work - I used to get up at 2am to make a good start on the day so I could have time off later in the day." Pearl Valour also spoke of the moment she started to realise things were not all as they seemed and there was "dishonesty" going on within the under-fire sect.

He gave evidence in the Employment Court today before Chief Judge Christina Inglis in a case brought against Gloriavale by his daughter Serenity Pilgrim and ...

yelling at them in front of everyone else in the kitchen" for anything that was not up to their exacting standards. "You don't oppose the shepherds ... they are not unwitting, they are not sex slaves. they are not stupid, they are not brainwashed... they have made a different choice... "These women are not ignorant of the outside world... "Leadership are allowed to touch the girls, any of the girls… particularly the single girls… or overcooked". in there, I felt there wasn't any option." Yesterday the womens' lawyer Brian Henry said the court would hear evidence of that women in the community were expected to "scrub, cook and clean for the rest of their life" or be "pregnant for the rest of their life". even if nothing happened…

The court heard that those who refused to work had food withheld and were threatened with eternal damnation.

Phillip Skelton said the women of Gloriavale are not stupid. "They will say that Gloriavale is their home. I would have been about 7, maybe 8 when I started working.

A former Gloriavale member has told the Employment Court he saw a culture of victim blaming during his time at the community.

“That’s the sort of thing that happened and happens now … “It is an incredible amount of pressure.” Another former member of Gloriavale told the court of the “incredible pressure” to prepare meals for the entire community with only two others. Isaac Pilgrim told the court when inappropriate behaviour occurred involving male members of the sect, the girl's reputation was “tarnished” in the eyes of leaders. [arguing their years of domestic work in the sect were as employees, rather than as volunteers](https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/300673305/the-truth-is-it-is-dark--gloriavale-workers-begin-employment-court-trial). *