Australian news program A Current Affair looks inside the world of Alistah Laishkochav, a Kiwi who set up a polygamist sect in Australia and was convicted of child abuse. Video ? A Current Affair
The Kiwi paedophile at the head of the polygamous cult where Aussie Bachelor star Keira Maguire was raised boasted about his ability to satisfy five women every night.
Chilling footage taken in 1992 shows Alistah Laishkochav comparing himself to King Solomon and insisting he was "not greedy" for having nine wives.
Laishkochav, who was born in Auckland, changed his name from Ian Lowe when he moved to Australia from New Zealand in 1969.
The cult leader, circled, was also convicted of throwing a plank of wood at the head of one of the children. Photo / AP
The self-styled messiah, who was jailed for sexually assaulting four young girls between 1987 and 1991, encouraged other men to adopt his depraved lifestyle.
Speaking from his Byron Bay compound in NSW, Laishkochav, who fathered 64 children, including Keira, told A Current Affair: "King Solomon had so many wives.
"I'm not that greedy, surely. He had 70 wives and 500 concubines. When it comes to women. I'm selfish.
"I don't think I am more special than any other man and I believe any man can do what I do and satisfy four to five women a night."
He revealed that he often slept with four of his wives in one night, but never together - so that each wife would be satisfied twice or three times a week.
When asked about whether his nine wives ever bullied him, Laishkochav - who passed away in 2012 - said: "Yes".
The cult leader's wives, including Keira's mother Michelle, were also interviewed for the 1992 programme and gave an insight into why they decided to live in the commune.
Michelle, who stayed with the "seaside sect" for more than a decade, justified her decision to share her husband with eight other women.
"Can you love more than one child?" she said in the historic footage.
"Do you just love the one? Or even, say, three or two, no, you love them all."
She revealed that she felt secure with Laishkochav because she was not constantly worrying about who her husband was cheating with - it was all out in the open.
"I'd don't have the fear of sitting at home wondering whether my husband is somewhere shopping for another woman," she said.
Michelle gave birth to Keira at the first commune in Bells Beach, Victoria, before moving to the hippie town of Byron Bay with the group.
They stayed until Kiera was five-years-old at which point Michelle decided to remove her family from the sect.
"Once the ego sets in, they think they can do it anything," she said in the 1992 clip.
Life at the compound was so strict, no one dared question the strange beliefs and instructions of the self-styled guru who was dubbed the "controller" by his wives.
The polygamist is understood to have slept with all nine of his de facto wives in one bedroom, while his children had to share with as many as 15 others.
Over the years, his brood grew so large that Laishkochav admitted to CBS-TV's Hard Copy that he received a staggering A$250,000 per year in welfare payments.
He ruled his clan with a rod of iron and borrowed elements of Judaism, Mormonism, Islam and the beliefs of Pacific Islanders to justify having multiple wives.
The Australian reported the leader strongly believed a UFO would take the group from earth in 1988.
Encouraged to chant every night, Laishkochav's were also led to believe all outsiders were "evil" and that they could only be saved by God.
In 2000 Alistah Laishkochav was jailed for seven years and six months after being convicted of 20 child sex offences and one charge of reckless injury. Photo / Supplied
The former policeman, who real name is Ian Lowe, was jailed for more than seven years in 2000 after being found guilty of 20 sexual offences against four young girls.
He was found guilty of sexually penetrating a child under 10 as well as three counts of attempted penetration of a child and 16 counts of indecent assault.
The despot abused the girls, who were aged between 7 and 11, over a four-year period from 1987 to 1991. Keira would have only been 3-years-old at the time.
During his trial, one of the victims told the court she was aged between seven and nine when Laishkochav molested her "every other day".
She also revealed how Laishkochav would threaten her with violence to ensure she stayed silent about the sexual abuse.
The girl said Laishkochav told her: "God would punish me and he would hurt me", according to The Age.
An 8-year-old girl also revealed how Laishkochav would kiss her and tell her she would eventually become his wife, the Australian reported.
Another victim told the trial Laishkochav would slap his children and tell them they had the devil in them.
The cult leader was also convicted of throwing a plank of wood at the head of one of the children.
Keira, 29, told Daily Mail Australia that she has never had a relationship with Laishkochav, and fled the cult when she was just 5 years old with her mother and some of her siblings.
"My mother removed my family from that environment when I was 5 years old, over 25 years ago," she said.
"I was brought up by my mother and grandmother in Brisbane in a loving, caring and compassionate household.
"I had a wonderful childhood and I am extremely grateful to both my mother and grandmother for the upbringing which they provided me and my siblings.
"Although I have since met and reunited with my family, I have never had a relationship with Alistah Laishkochav."
She concluded: "Alistah Laishkochav is not relevant to who I am nor does he define me."
Keira Maguire has ruffled feathers in the Bachelor house following multiple confrontations with other contestants. Photo / via The Bachelor
As reported in Woman's Day, the reality TV starlet kept her dark past hidden from The Bachelor's producers and only told them that her "father died 30 years go."
Up until the age of 5, Keira lived with her mother Michelle and their extended family in Bells Beach, Victoria before moving to Byron Bay.
Keira's mother Michelle took her and her siblings Leilani, Shath, Jade, Ty and Sean to Queensland, where they began a new life.
