Brian Henry: lawyer for former Gloriavale leavers calls on the Government to step in to protect the victims of the community

The legal expert leading the team representing Gloriavale leavers is calling on the Government to act now and protect the victims of the community.

BNZ has been given clearance to close Gloriavale's bank accounts after the Employment Court found a number of former members had worked since the age of six - with many subjected to physical punishment.

Lawyer Brian Henry says the residents of the community need to be freed from the 'tyranny' of the leaders and given a new start in society.

"There are people inside there who need to be freed from the tyranny of what's going on there and re-set up in society where they get a decent education for their children - and they have the opportunity to live life as free people."

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
There are calls for the government to step in after
the Benz has been given permission to close Gloriavale's bank accounts.
Gloriavale's lawyer said last month that the loss of banking
services will effectively end the community. Benz has made the
call after the Employment Court found a number of former
Gloria Vale members had worked since the age of six
and were subject to physical punishment. Brian Henry was the

(00:22):
lawyer who represented those former members and he's with me
this afternoon.

Speaker 2 (00:25):
Good afternoon, Good afternoon, Ryan, Brian, you.

Speaker 1 (00:30):
Want the government to step in here, what exactly do
you want them to do?

Speaker 2 (00:34):
Well? Gloriavale is a group of people.

Speaker 3 (00:37):
There's a leadership who I consider to be part of
the dark arts of the world, and then there's the
people in there who are the victims and the followers,
and they're just innocent followers. Gloriavale's assets are their life's work.
It is their superannuation scheme, it is their asset. It's

(00:59):
head and trust by leadership and they lose everything. Now
Gloryvale needs to have a statutory manager appointed who takes
over control. They need a plan similar to Lake Alice,
where they look at all the families help them in
this system. There's plenty of money there. There's forty five
to sixty five million, and it's something that would sell

(01:21):
fun and you look after the victims at the moment.
The victims are not just those who have left, but
a lot of people inside there still are victims of
these perpetrators.

Speaker 1 (01:31):
So you're saying that the people on the outside have
actually escaped, they are going to miss out on money
that is owed to them through this organization.

Speaker 3 (01:42):
It's not just that there are people inside there who
need to be freed from the tyranny of what's going
on there and reset up in society where they get
a decent education for their children and they have the
opportunity to live life as three people, not as people
with free will crust out of them before they're three

(02:03):
months old.

Speaker 2 (02:04):
And it's a double edged sword here.

Speaker 3 (02:06):
There are people inside and there's people outside whose money
is at stake, are at stake.

Speaker 1 (02:13):
What about those who might say, well, the people who
are still there, that that's their choice.

Speaker 2 (02:16):
Their adults, No, there's no choice. They can't leave.

Speaker 3 (02:20):
They have practices on them from theirth to break their
free will. They and I've got eavens just recently of
girls practicing a dance, and the dance is an interpretation
of the.

Speaker 2 (02:32):
Bible, if you go to Hell, if.

Speaker 3 (02:33):
You leave gloriaal This is a community that is very
controlled and they do not have free will and there
at all. In fact, free will is driven out of them.
They have to be in what's called unity and its
submission to the overseeing shepherd full stop.

Speaker 2 (02:49):
They have no choice to leave, Okay?

Speaker 1 (02:51):
Can we so that aside? The b and Z has
given a three month notice period, so by March next
year they could be without a bank there. Lawyers say
this could end the community as we know it. Can
we rule out another bank coming into you give them
the services they need?

Speaker 2 (03:06):
I guess yes we can.

Speaker 3 (03:08):
The BENZ hasn't acted in a capricious manner on this.
The bn Z, like all financial institutions around the world,
raise money from various funding lines. The international law is
quite clear you do not have child labor, you do
not have force child labor in banking arrangements. That is
well understood international law. But in New Zealand we have

(03:30):
the Labor Inspectorate and apparently Crown laws signing off saying
six year old boys who if they don't work, don't eat,
and if they don't work hard and they get beaten
with shovel handles, are volunteers. Now New Zealand's is out
of kilter with the world. This is recognized worldwide as
something that should not be happening in a first world country,

(03:52):
and here it is still going on today, nothing done
about it. It's time someone stood up and became accountable
in government.

Speaker 1 (04:00):
Thank you very much for your time this afternoon, Really
appreciate it. That's Brian Henry. He's the lawyer who represented
those former members of Gloria Vail. Of course there are
many still there, hundreds of children still there as well.

Speaker 3 (04:09):
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Speaker 1 (04:13):
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