A former Exclusive Brethren member has been jailed for 2-1/2 years for historic sex crimes against four young girls.
Clive Allen Petrie, 74, of Nelson, was sentenced in Nelson District Court this morning and ordered to pay his victims $20,000 in reparations, the Nelson Mail reported.
He was found guilty by a jury in September of nine charges of indecently assaulting girls and one charge of inducing a girl under 12 to do an indecent act on him. He had admitted one charge of indecently assaulting a girl under 12.
The four girls involved were aged five to nine when the offending happened, three between the 1950s and early 1960s, the fourth victim, now 31, at his house in the 1980s.
Judge Tony Zohrab said Petrie showed a lack of mercy by offending against them and then making them go through the court process.
Two of women said the effects of Petrie's offending had been long lasting and traumatic. One said she kept the offending secret because she knew no one within the Exclusive Brethren church would believe her.
Petrie's lawyer, Hamish Riddoch, apologised to the victims on behalf of his client. Petrie had been brought up within the church and was "sheltered, naive and immature", he said.
