A Gloriavale teacher who beat young boys with tools including a pitchfork, axe handle and metal pipe has been sentenced to 10 months’ home detention.
Vigilant Standtrue, 43, was sentenced in Christchurch District Court after being found guilty of assaulting four boys over more than a decade.
The abuse happened between 2001 and 2013 while the boys were working under his supervision in Gloriavale’s moss business on the West Coast.
The victims were aged between 8 and 13.
Court heard Standtrue repeatedly hit the boys with objects including a shovel handle, pitchfork, pipe and axe handle while disciplining them.
The offending was described as repeated violence against vulnerable children placed under his authority.
One victim told the court the abuse had followed him into adulthood.
Now a father himself, he said the violence damaged his ability to trust people and left him carrying years of trauma from his childhood inside the isolated Christian community.
Another victim suffered bruising from the assaults.
The judge rejected any attempt to downplay what happened, accepting the evidence of the victims and making it clear the abuse was real and sustained.
Standtrue was between 19 and 25 during the offending.
The court heard he had been given authority over boys despite his youth and lack of maturity.
His previous conviction for assaulting another child at Gloriavale in 2022 was also considered during sentencing.
Despite that, the judge stopped short of sending him to prison.
Standtrue was instead sentenced to home detention, with the court hearing jail would heavily affect his wife and nine children.
The case adds to Gloriavale’s growing list of abuse convictions and allegations, with the controversial West Coast religious community facing years of scrutiny over its treatment of children and former members.
The Paper 