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	Sect to Help in Abuse Inquiry By Dan Eaton and Ian Steward Stuff [New Zealand] April 21, 2007 http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/dailynews/4032970a10.html The Exclusive Brethren church has pledged to co-operate with police in an investigation into allegations of sexual abuse of children. Police said yesterday that they started an investigation five weeks ago into allegations of historical sex abuse filed by four women against a member of the secretive sect in the Nelson region. Tasman police district commander Grant O'Fee called for people to come forward with information. "All of the people involved either were or are Exclusive Brethren. The complaints were historical, stretching back 40 years," he said. "They are serious sexual allegations. Some of the complainants no longer live in the Nelson area." It is thought at least one of the women lives in Auckland. "Police are still at the gathering-information phase. We have not yet spoken to the man in question. "Because of the long time period, the circumstances are understandably hazy," O'Fee said. "If these sorts of circumstances strike a chord with people, we would like to hear from them." Asked if the sect was being co-operative, O'Fee said police had not informed it until yesterday of the investi-gation. The women are understood to be aged between the mid-20s and the mid-60s and to be alleging offending in the Nelson area between the early 1950s and early 1980s. The allegations come amid a political row between the Brethren and the Government, which this week accused the sect's leadership of lying about its involvement in efforts to sway the results of elections in New Zealand. A spokesman for Prime Minister Helen Clark declined to comment on the sexual-abuse allegations. The Labour-led Government and the National Party have traded blows over the Brethren since it was revealed during the 2005 election campaign that seven New Zealand businessman belonging to the sect planned to spend more than $1 million on advertising critical of the Government and its allies. The Australia-based church leaders said they had yesterday started a "vigorous" investigation of their own into the allegations of sexual abuse. Church spokesman Tony McCorkell, who arrived in Auckland this week from Queensland, said police had confirmed they were investigating. "Obviously, the church as a whole won't make a comment on it now it has gone to that stage, other than to say the church will co-operate with any investigation fully and openly," he said. McCorkell said earlier in the day that police had not given him details of the allegations, but he had interviewed the man accused by the women after the allegations began to filter through to the public on Thursday night. The complaints came about after the women, or friends of the women, approached two former members of the Brethren to ask for help. The mother of one complainant alleged her six-year-old daughter was sexually assaulted by the man, then a friend of the family. She said they received a letter from the man they had accused, saying he would never do such a thing. She said her daughter was prepared to lay a complaint now that she knew there were other women coming forward. McCorkell accused the complainants of keeping the church leadership in the dark. Brethren leaders in Australia and New Zealand were aware of "rumours of sexual abuse" but he would be surprised if any leaders who originally received the historical complaints were alive. "We still don't have any information on the accusers or the alleged victims."
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