Gloriavale inquest: Mother who saw Sincere Standtrue minutes before fatal incident says there were ‘no alarm bells’

Sincere Standtrue died at Gloriavale in 2018. A Coroner is now holding an inquest at Greymouth District Court into the 20-year-old's sudden passing.

WARNING: This story deals with suicide. Please see below for help and crisis information.

A Gloriavale mother of seven was the last to see Sincere Standtrue alive, interacting with him just 15 minutes before his sudden death.

The woman told Coroner Alexandra Cunninghame that Standtrue seemed happy and normal and that there were “no red flags” when she saw him at the paint shop where he worked just before 5pm on October 23, 2018.

By 5.25pm she heard he had been found in a critical condition.

“Whatever he did, he did it quickly,” she said.

Standtrue, 20, was rushed to Christchurch Hospital but his injuries were not survivable. He died on November 2.

This week the second phase of an inquest into Standtrue’s death began at the Greymouth District Court.

Coroner Cunninghame is tasked with determining whether Standtrue took his own life or died accidentally.

The Coroner will hear evidence from Sincere Standtrue's parents, who live at Gloriavale, and his sister, who has left the secretive Christian community.

Earlier this year she heard evidence from members of Standtrue’s family, police and the Gloriavale community.

His sister Rose, who left Gloriavale and is estranged from her parents and siblings, said Standtrue was bullied, mocked, beaten, excluded and “looked down on” during his life.

She said he was deaf and had other physical and intellectual challenges and was called names and teased as a result, and that Gloriavale founder Hopeful Christan “really had it in for him”.

This week further Gloriavale members are giving evidence.

One woman said she was walking with several of her seven young children near the paint shop just before 5pm on the day Standtrue was found injured.

She stopped by the shop to jot down some comments her child had made so she would not forget them.

As she wrote, her 3-year-old fiddled with a lock on the door, drawing Standtrue’s attention.

She said he came out and she smiled up at him, joking that her child had been trying to lock him in the shop.

He smiled back and said that would not be possible unless the door was shut tight, which he demonstrated.

The woman then carried on, collecting some sawdust and wood shavings from the woodworking shed.

She had arranged to meet someone at the shed at 5pm. They did not show up and she began to walk back to the main buildings.

She remembered looking at her watch as she walked and it was “shortly after 5pm”.

As they walked past the paint shop she said Standtrue “seemed interested” in what she and the children were doing.

They didn’t speak further.

“We walked back to the hostels and didn’t see him again,” she said.

“He seemed friendly, personable, happy ... I didn’t notice anything unusual.

“There was nothing about him that struck me as out of the ordinary or different – he was just himself to me.”

At about 5.25pm she found out Standtrue had been found unresponsive.

“I said, ‘No, I was just up there, I saw him’,” she said.

In her statement to police, she said: “Whatever he did, he did quickly because I had just been there.”

“What I was trying to say was, whatever happened happened quickly ... I think it was an accident of some kind,” she said.

“There were no alarm bells. There was nothing about Sincere that would indicate he would do that. Everything about our interaction was relaxed.”

The woman told the Coroner she had lived in the same hostel with Standtrue and his family and knew him “generally”.

She said he was “simple-minded” and not a complicated person and “intellectually, very smart.”

“He liked to joke ... he was always eager to please and help out

“I knew him reasonably well. Generally, he was … usually pretty open and happy. I don’t know of any instances where he was subjected to bullying.

“I can’t remember any times he was upset or unhappy.”

The woman had doubts that Standtrue took his own life.

She explained to Coroner Cunninghame how Gloriavale members viewed suicide.

“It is an issue that is of spiritual significance,” she said.

“We take a lead or guidance from scripture and the Bible says it is wrong to take a life – even your own.

“God holds life as sacred ... the [Gloriavale] leadership always told us suicide is wrong, it goes against our values and beliefs and we would be lost in eternity – effectively sending yourself to hell.

“Suicide is at odd with our teachings ... the message is reinforced by our parents, suicide is effectively a sin.”

Sincere Standtrue was 20 when he died.

The second phase of the inquest is scheduled to run for two weeks.

In total, more than 50 witnesses will give evidence about Standtrue’s life and death and how he found life at Gloriavale.

The Coroner will hear about:

• Standtrue’s state of mind at the time he died
• Whether he was bullied and or physically “disciplined”
• Whether he had been subject to harmful sexual behaviour at Gloriavale and if that influenced his actions on the day he died
• Whether the 20-year-old was satisfied with how his life was progressing
• How well Standtrue coped with the set-up in the community
• Whether there were any other factors in Standtrue’s life that might have caused him to wish to end his life.

After hearing all of the evidence, Coroner Cunninghame will consider whether the death was a suicide, with Standtrue acting deliberately to end his own life, or whether he died in different circumstances.

Situations she will have to consider include:

• Did Standtrue have any developmental delay or other conditions such that he was incapable of forming intent, or unable to understand the consequences of his actions?
• Did he accidentally kill himself in carrying out the activity practised by some within the community?
• Was toxin exposure the cause or a cause of death given he was in the paint shop?
• And if so, was the exposure to the toxin accidental or deliberate?

On the first day of the inquest she paid tribute to Standtrue and reminded those in court that he was the reason for the court process.

She urged parties to remember that all New Zealanders “are free to practice their chosen religion” and while evidence would be given about what life was like at Gloriavale and while she may make findings about Standtrue’s life there – issues of “whether aspects of life at Gloriavale fall outside the law of Aotearoa are not for this court”.

“I’m mindful that the difference in opinion about the way of life at Gloriavale has led to families including Sincere’s experiencing division, and that this may add a layer of emotional weight,” she said.

“Everyone in this court will treat each other with respect.”

After determining how and why Standtrue died the Coroner will consider whether there are any comments or recommendations she could make that will reduce the chances of future deaths in similar circumstances.

Anna Leask is a Christchurch-based reporter who covers national crime and justice. She joined the Herald in 2008 and has worked as a journalist for 18 years with a particular focus on family violence, child abuse, sexual violence, homicides, mental health and youth crime. She writes, hosts and produces the award-winning podcast A Moment In Crime, released monthly on nzherald.co.nz