Gloriavale children subject to frequent smacking, Employment Court told

The Gloriavale Christian Community. Photo / Google Maps via RNZ

By Niva Chittock of RNZ

An ex-Gloriavale member said she could always be scared into doing something by the thought of being smacked.

Trudy Christian broke down while she gave evidence in the Employment Court in Christchurch yesterday.

Six former Gloriavale women are seeking a ruling they were employees, not volunteers, during their time in the community.

Smacking was common in the Christian community during Trudy Christian's childhood and caused her significant psychological damage, she said.

"We ran away from the team leader who was looking for us with a big wooden spoon. Since this was the common tool used for spanking, we thought that she was coming to hit us and that's why we ran away," Christian sobbed.

"Another time, I was accused of lying and was hit with the big wooden spoon until I confessed to something that I hadn't done."

Beatings were carried out by community leaders and parents, she added.

"By the time I was about 10, they brought in a system at school, where if you misbehaved, the teacher would send you to your parents with a slip of paper which told them they had to punish you."

"And then they would sign the slip to say they had."

Even in pre-school, children were hit with a bat similar to a ping pong paddle, Christian recalled.

By age 11 or 12, Christian had little time off work.

"If we finished the jobs, then theoretically we could go have some time off, however, for me there was usually no time off, as I had jobs awaiting me at home."

These jobs included folding, sorting and doing laundry, changing nappies and helping care for younger siblings, she said.

"The family housework I was responsible for...was generally considered girls' work. I was the only girl in my family for 10 years, I had five younger brothers and there was always lots of dirty clothes and a baby or toddler to help with."

Trudy Christian said working on the Teams, a four-day rotation of community cooking, cleaning, laundry and sewing work carried out by women, were the hardest years of her life in terms of work.

She used to start work at 3am two mornings a week, and 5am the rest.

There was never any finish time to the work and if she finished early, she would just be given more work, Christian recounted.

"In the community, we were told what to do for work and we did it, but we had no finish time and the work just kept on coming."

"If we had too much time on our hands, we might have started thinking too much. This was never said, but in retrospect, this is what I imagine the leadership's attitude was."

Sometimes young, single girls would miss out on a meal because they were too busy, preparing, serving and clearing the dishes, Christian said.

The teachings of the community also influenced who got to eat, she added.

"There was also a tradition, or culture, taught to us by the head kitchen lady that if we ran out of food, we should always make sure the men had enough and so we, the women and girls, sometimes missed out dinner."

Trudy Christian said the women had no choice but to do what they were told.

Gloriavale's leaders strongly deny the claims and maintain the women were never employees of the community.