Catholic News [Australia]
February 15, 2007
http://www.cathnews.com/news/702/86.php
William Kamm, a self-proclaimed mystic known as the "Little Pebble", yesterday faced fresh charges in a Sydney court of beginning a sexual relationship with a 14-year-old follower selected as one of his "queens".
Mr Kamm is accused of having sex with the girl when she was living with her family in a religious community he established at Cambewarra, near Nowra, on the NSW south coast, The Australian reports.
The cult leader created the community, the Order of Saint Charbel, in the late 1980s and planned to take 12 queens and 72 princesses who would all conceive his children, the NSW District Court was told.
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Mr Kamm refused to follow an order by the Holy See in 2002 to disband the community, saying that he operated on God's authority.
Followers would meet on the 13th day of every month when Mr Kamm would receive messages from the Virgin Mary, Crown Prosecutor Sara Bowers said.
Ms Bowers said Mr Kamm's teachings were central to the case against him.
"He thought the world was about to come to an end but that he and his community would survive and that through the accused a new race of people would come into being," she said.
In a letter he wrote in 1994, Mr Kamm claimed the law of God was suspended for him in regard to marriage, Ms Bowers said.
"I am permitted to have intercourse with all princesses without violating the law," she said, citing the letter.
"All will conceive their children from me, even the married ones, because I carry the holy seed."
The victim, who began living in the community when she was 12, was approached by Mr Kamm at the age of 13 to become a princess and eventually a queen, the court heard.
In July 1994, Mr Kamm took the girl, then 14, to a motel at Figtree, near Wollongong, and attempted to coax her into having sex with him, the court heard.
After she refused he said he was very disappointed and told her it was "God's will," Ms Bowers said.
Later that month he again took the girl to the motel where he had sexual intercourse with her, the court heard.
He also had sexual intercourse with her at his home in the Cambewarra community in January 1995 when she was 15, the court heard.
Mr Kamm, 56, has pleaded not guilty to five counts of having sexual intercourse with a person under the age of 16 under his authority and one count of committing an act of indecency.
However Mr Kamm's counsel, Greg Stanton told the jury of eight men and four women that the alleged victim had taken her story to two media outlets before going to police in 2002.
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