Fervent Ben-Canaan in the dock for his sentencing at the Christchurch District Court. Photo: Stuff / Iain McGregor
A former Gloriavale member who was sexually abused in the Christian community when she was 13 years old has told her abuser he stole her childhood and her innocence.
Gloriavale man Fervent Ben-Canaan was jailed for four years and two months in the Christchurch District Court on Wednesday for sexual offending against eight girls.
The 45-year-old preyed upon some girls as they slept, and touched them while they were caring for children or working at the Christian community.
He pleaded guilty to eight charges of indecent assault and indecent acts - some of which were representative - against girls aged 11 and over, part-way through a jury trial at the Greymouth District Court last year.
The offending occurred between 2004 and 2018.
A survivor, who was abused by Ben-Canaan when she was 13, broke down in tears in court reading her victim impact statement. She said during the period she was abused she felt like she was living in a neverending nightmare, and it caused immense shame and guilt.
"I was a child of 13 and due to the culture I was raised in, I couldn't put into words what was happening. I believed if I said anything to anyone I would not be allowed to marry. I, like so many girls, were expected to come to marriage pure and untouched, but due to the sexual assault I wasn't.
"After the abuse I would take one- to two-hour long showers because I never felt clean."
The woman said she felt like she was a disappointment to her parents.
"My relationship with my own father began to fade due to me being too scared of a male touching me."
The woman said although she now knew what happened to her was not her fault, it continued to haunt her.
Gloriavale. Photo: RNZ / Jean Edwards
Ben-Canaan's lawyer Marcus Zintil said his client had acknowledged that he had a sexual attraction towards adolescent girls. Zintil said Ben-Canaan had shown genuine remorse and had written letters of apology.
The pre-sentence report assessed him as having low risk of re-offending, Zintil said.
Judge Neave said Ben-Canaan had caused long-standing psychological damage to his victims, and there had been considerable breaches of trust.
"Offending occurred within [the victims'] home, in many cases in the bedrooms of the complainants where they were entitled to feel safe."
According to a summary of facts, Gloriavale's leaders knew about Ben-Canaan's offending, but asked him to apologise in front of the community for being sinful and sent him to live in a farmhouse away from the main Gloriavale site.
Leaders arranged a meeting after one of Ben-Canaan's victims pointed a knife and threatened to hurt him if he did not leave her alone.
Ben-Canaan lived with his family in a communal accommodation block until June 2018, when police were alerted to an allegation he indecently assaulted a 13-year-old girl.
The girl and her parents were reluctant to formalise a complaint while they still lived at Gloriavale, hampering the investigation.
Ben-Canaan declined to make a formal police statement and denied touching the girl, although he admitted having inappropriate thoughts and completed the STOP programme to address his sexual desire for young girls.
In 2021, police and Oranga Tamariki launched a major investigation into sexual offending at Gloriavale that involved screening all girls aged between five and 17, some of whom disclosed abuse.
One of Ben-Canaan's 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.
Ben-Canaan put his hand up another girl's dress and rubbed her leg while she was resting on a mattress after a morning working in the kitchen.
Another victim described Ben-Canaan rubbing her breast at the pre-school, and on two occasions woke to find him touching her in her bedroom.
Judge Neave sentenced Ben-Canaan to four years and two months' imprisonment.
