AUSTRALIA
The Daily Telegraph
By NICOLETTE CASELLA
July 9, 2005
HE told followers he was a messiah who had "personal contact" with the Virgin Mary and Jesus.
But a jury yesterday found he was in fact a sexual pervert who manipulated a 15-year-old girl into believing she had been chosen by Mary to be one of his "queens" so he could take advantage of her.
After three days of deliberations, a jury found William Kamm, 55 – known by his followers as The Little Pebble – guilty of committing five sexual offences against Gabrielle O'Shaughnessy in 1993 when her family lived at his Order of St Charbel commune near Nowra.
As the verdicts were read out before a packed courtroom – mostly Little Pebble supporters – the self-styled seer showed no emotion.
Ms O'Shaughnessy, 27, shed tears of relief.
During the three-week trial, the court heard Kamm told Ms O'Shaughnessy, who yesterday agreed to be named, she had been chosen to bear him 17 children in the "new era".