The founder of Gloriavale would never have been convicted of sexual abuse if commune members hadn't been portrayed as "mindless robots", according to a senior resident.
Faithful Pilgrim is giving evidence at the Employment Court, which is deciding whether six women were employees or volunteers and subject to "slave-like conditions".
Pilgrim was asked about Hopeful Christian's conviction on three charges of indecently assaulting a teenage girl in the 1980s.
Faithful Pilgrim is giving evidence at the Employment Court, which is deciding whether six women were employees or volunteers and subject to "slave-like conditions". (Source: 1News)
He said he was "not convinced at all that he was guilty".
"I think the media made a big fuss of it because he was a Christian.
"There was a big media-driven attempt to portray us as mindless robots doing everything that Hopeful said.
"The way the media treated him, it would've been impossible for him to receive a fair trial in this country," said Pilgrim.
Christian, who was also known as Neville Cooper, served almost two years in prison for the offence.
The court heard that Christian continued to lead while behind bars, with the help of others still living at Gloriavale.
"He wrote letters, people talked to him, visited him … he was still seen as the leader," said Pilgrim.
Commune members were told about the conviction in 1995, and the other leaders reiterated that Christian was innocent.
"Were you communicating to them that the reality was he was being persecuted as a Christian?" asked Gloriavale leavers lawyer Brian Henry.
"I don't remember saying that … some of them may have concluded that. I was saying that he was innocent," said Pilgrim.
Hopeful Christian died in 2018, aged 92.
The employment hearing is continuing.
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