Ushered into her parents’ bedroom with her eight brothers and sisters, the eight-year-old girl felt bewildered.
“Protected” from the “wicked outside world” by a strict religious community, she had been brought up to accept the teachings of the sect – But nothing in her young life had prepared her for what was to happen next.
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“We had to watch my mum and dad have sex,” she recalled.
“I just tried not to think about what was happening. I thought that every father was doing this to their children because in the community they were told to invite their children into their room and show them what sex was like between a husband and wife. It became normal to us.”
This is just one of many harrowing stories from those who managed to escape from Gloriavale, set up 50 years ago by Australian preacher Neville Cooper, to find like-minded people who shared his vision of creating Heaven on Earth.
But it was founded on sex, coercion, fear and abuse – with kids as young as five being targeted by leaders and terrified virgins suffering horrific sexual assault to “prepare them” for their wedding night.
A three-part BBC documentary called Escaping Utopia exposes the dark secrets that lurk behind this cult-like sect, with unprecedented access to both former and current members.
It includes Neville’s son, Christian, who saw the evil of Gloriavale and managed to escape. Now, he is part of an underground network that helps others to flee the oppressive confines.
“My dad started the community and, like a king would, wanted a kingdom,” says Christian, who left behind his wife and 11 children in Gloriavale.
“When I told my wife I wanted to leave, she replied, ‘I’m not going to lose my soul.’ I knew exactly what she meant. She meant, ‘I’m not leaving.’
“In a society where women are taught from a very young age that they have no voice and have got to submit, she was like a puppet.
“The leaders there have painted me as a very evil, wicked person who follows the devil. But doing nothing is not the answer. That would just mean these people are never going to get free.”
Cooper, a fire and brimstone-like preacher, changed his name to Hopeful Christian and his 600 plus community share similar such names as Lovely, Angel and Temperance.
“My dad was born in 1926 in Queensland. He came to a sort of mental crisis when he was 22 and had an experience where he believed he had met God who called to him to be a minister,” says Christian.
“He had an attempt at setting up a commune in Australia, which failed, then he moved to New Zealand in 1967 to try to get this weird idea he had off the ground.
“He believed that he was God’s advocate on earth and as he got more power he became more corrupt and he ended up with a God-like status and he took to converting people in sexual ways.
“He thought the Christian, strictly religious barriers around sex were too tight and that sex wasn’t such a bad thing. So, he decided that married couples were going to get rid of some of their inhibitions and enjoy their sex lives better. And that went quite a bit off track.”
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Victims blamed for abuse
In the strict hierarchy, he was the supreme ‘Overseeing Shepherd’ with his team of all-male leaders, the next rank down, known as ‘Shepherds’.
These were followed by the rest of the men of the community with the women – required to wear long blue, body-covering dresses with head scarves – at the bottom.
And it was the women who did the bulk of the chores, spending long days cooking, serving meals, making cheese, sewing and doing the laundry… as well as having as many babies as possible.
“The women are there to serve the men, to work and have babies,” says ex-Gloriavale member, Rosanna Overcomer, who was sexually abused when she was 14 by another member of the community.
“You are not to talk to the opposite sex before marriage. We were told all the time that if you show off your ankles you are tempting the men and Hopeful would say that men even get turned on by elbows and so we were not to pull our sleeves up.
“So, the girls are responsible for tempting the men. The leaders tell the guys, ‘You can’t help yourself.’ And to the girls it would be, ‘You can say no and stop it happening. Once you have tempted the guys they can’t stop.’
“And so you’ve got boys growing up thinking that they can do whatever they like and girls thinking it is their fault if something happens to them. And they don’t go and get help because effectively they are telling someone how bad they are.
“Everything becomes sexualised. And the culture of it has bred abusive behaviour. Because we were born there we knew nothing else.”
The sexism and double standards were flagrantly abused by those in power.
“The leaders would quite often flick your bra strap, undo your belt or wrap their arms around your waist,” says Rosanna. “Or, if you were standing at the table serving their meals, they would rub your legs up and down.”
Theophila Pratt, formerly Honey Faithful, says: “I was seven when I was first abused. It was by one of my own family members.”
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Most of those living in the commune in recent years were born in Gloriavale. Mental conditioning throughout their lives, including daily military marching parades in the playgrounds, meant that although they were not imprisoned, leaving would have dire consequences.
“You were told your whole life that if you leave you go to hell for eternity and burn,” says Rosanna, who finally fled with her husband Elijah and their three children in 2013.
Christian adds: “They said that if you crossed the bridge away from Gloriavale you had lost your soul and were going to hell. And that psychological prison is way more powerful than a locked gate.”
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Horrific ‘sexual teachings’
An exposing light was shone on the community in 1994 when New Zealand investigative reporter Melanie Reid was looking into sexual abuse allegations against Neville Cooper and went undercover as one of the faithful, wearing the blue dress and scarf. Her subsequent TV reports were a sensation.
“I was told that there was a spiritual sexual teaching where Neville Cooper would teach boys to masturbate and how to masturbate women.”
Former member Yvette Benammi, shows Melanie a baton-shaped object which she says was similar to one used to break her hymen the night before her wedding. “He said to me, ‘I am going to use this to stretch your muscles so that you don’t have any pain.’ I felt like I was being ripped in two.”
Yvette is the aunt of Boaz Benjamin, 26, who after years of deliberating, finally left Gloriavale, leaving behind his wife Tabitha and their three children. His family joined him earlier this year and they are starting a new life in Auckland.
They said that if you crossed the bridge away from Gloriavale you had lost your soul and were going to hell. And that psychological prison is way more powerful than a locked gate.
Christian Cooper
“I had sexual things done to me,” he says. “I couldn’t tell anyone because there was no one I could trust. I just encased myself with anger and being tough to try and hide the pain.”
He is shocked when, in the documentary Melanie plays him her interview with Yvette and also one with his grandfather, Judah Benammi, who says of his time within the sect: “There would be carpets all over the floor and sheepskins spread out and anything up to ten, twelve, married couples and Neville would teach on marriage and then teach on sex. I was involved in multiple sexual contact between the couples. I was involved in the nudity.”
An anonymous woman told Melanie that she and her teenage sisters were told by Cooper to undress and then touch his private parts. A young man said he and his teenage brothers were told to undress and watch as Cooper and his wife performed a sexual act.
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After Melanie’s investigation aired in 1994, police raided the compound and Cooper was arrested and found guilty on 10 of the 11 charges of indecent assault.
“We were told that it was people who had left that were bitter and angry and just wanted to destroy us and persecute him for being a Christian and that’s why he had gone to jail,” recalls Rosanna.
But after serving just 11 months of his six-year prison sentence he was released and went back to the community.
In 2013, Rosanna and her three children were flown to a secret location after husband Elijah confronted Cooper about his sexual assault convcition and was exiled. But she managed to escape the couple, who now share seven kids, were reunited.
Help after rape or sexual assault
IF you’ve been sexually assaulted it’s important to remember that it was not your fault. Sexual violence is a crime, no matter who commits it or where it happens. Don’t be afraid to get help.
There are services that can help if you’ve been sexually assaulted, raped or abused.
You don’t have to report the assault to the police if you don’t want to. You may need time to think about what has happened to you.
But you should get medical help for any injuries and because you may be at risk of pregnancy or sexually transmitted infections (STIs). If you want the crime to be investigated, it’s best to have a forensic medical examination as soon as possible.
Try not to wash or change your clothes immediately after a sexual assault. This may destroy forensic evidence that could be important if you decide to report the assault to the police (although you can still go to the police even if you have washed).
Where to get help
Sexual assault referral centres (SARCs) offer medical, practical and emotional support to anyone who has been raped, sexually assaulted or abused. SARCs have specially trained doctors, nurses and support workers to care for you.
Other places you can get help include:
In 2018, Neville Cooper died of cancer at the age of 92. His right-hand man, Howard Temple, took his place.
A police investigation is ongoing into revelations of systemic sexual abuse inside Gloriavale, involving 138 potential victims and dozens of suspected offenders.
In September 2023, Howard Temple, was arrested on indecent sexual assault charges against ten young girls. He has denied the charges and awaits trial.
In March 2024 Jonathan Benjamin was sentenced to 11 years and 10 months for 26 charges of sexual offending against children – the youngest only five or six years old.
Last September, Fervent Ben-Canaan, 45, pleaded guilty to eight charges of indecent assault and indecent acts against girls aged between 11 and 16.
One of his victims recalled him coming into a bedroom she shared with her siblings, getting under her sheets and touching her. On more than 20 other occasions, he put his hand up her dress while she was sleeping on a couch in the main building after early starts washing and cooking.
Other girls told how he had put his hands up their dresses and rubbed their legs or tickled their thighs and bottoms and fondled their breasts.
In July 2025, the Royal Commission of Inquiry into historic Abuse in Care requested Gloriavale publicly apologise to former members for the neglect and abuse experienced since Gloriavale’s inception.
Temple delivered an apology, acknowledging abuse happened within the community between 1950 and 1999 and that they would listen to victims and support them to heal and receive redress.
But former member John Ready was amongst many who said that the apology was insincere and shows a complete lack of understanding of the damage caused.
“The timestamp – 1950 to 1999 – leaves out the majority of the abuse from 2000,” he said.
For those who have escaped the so-called ‘Heaven on Earth’, the scars left by their hellish experiences continue.
“To escape physically feels impossible,” says member Sharon Ready. “But to escape psychologically really IS impossible.”
Escaping Utopia airs on BBC2 on Sunday, 16 Feb 2025
