Four women accuse Exclusive Brethren elder of sex assaults

Apr 20, 2007, 5:51 GMT

Wellington - Four New Zealand women have laid complaints with police alleging they were sexually abused by a senior member of the Exclusive Brethren sect when they were children more than 40 years ago, news reports said Friday.

Police in the South Island city of Nelson confirmed they were investigating the complaints, and the church's Australian-based official spokesman Tony McCorkell told Radio New Zealand, 'The church and its members will cooperate fully with law enforcement and any other authority to ensure the matter is dealt with transparently, openly and to the satisfaction of the law and the public.'

Constable Sally McBride told the Nelson Evening Mail that the complaints were serious allegations of historical molestation of children by one man over four decades. One victim was reported to be under 10 at the time she was assaulted.

The women, who were all reported to have left the church, are understood to now be 29 to 61 years old, the paper said.

Meanwhile, a Salvation Army captain, Maxwell Trimble, 62, was found guilty on Friday on seven charges of sexual offences against four women from December 2003 to July 2005.

A jury took about four hours to reach its verdict after a four-day trial in the Hamilton High Court, and Trimble was remanded in custody for sentencing in June.