WHANGANUI (NEW ZEALAND)
The Post [Wellington, New Zealand]
April 1, 2025
By Federico Magrin
A church brother has been sentenced to community work after admitting sexual offending against an altar boy.
Herbert Simo Rustila, 38, appeared in the Whanganui District Court in February, having pleaded guilty to a representative charge of sexual conduct with the boy over a period of four years.
Rustila, also known as Brother Vincent, is a religious brother of the fundamentalist Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX), which runs three schools and the Saint Anthony Church on its premises in Whanganui.
SSPX is a traditionalist Catholic church with about 600,000 followers across 72 countries and chapels in Auckland, Hamilton, Napier, Wellington, Whanganui and Whangārei.
The summary of facts supplied to Stuff said between 2018 and 2022, Rustila often asked the altar boy to help with cleaning and preparing for mass, offering chocolate and fizzy drink to the Saint Anthony’s School student.
Once, when they were in the church’s library, Rustila asked the victim, who was 12 when the offending began, whether he was circumcised.
When the boy said he was, Rustila said “show me, show me,” the summary said.
The 38-year-old would also hug and kiss the altar boy while he was helping with the church duties, the summary said.
“When hugging the victim, the defendant kissed the victim on his face with his mouth. The victim often kissed the defendant back.
“The victim described the hugging and kissing with the defendant happening so often it felt normal, and he began to like it.”
Sentencing notes from Judge Ajit Swaran Singh said a sentence of 16 months’ imprisonment was first considered.
However, after taking into account the mitigating factors, Rustila was sentenced to 200 hours of community work.
Judge Singh credited Rustila for his guilty plea, his previous good character, his letter of apology to the victim and offer of emotional harm reparation of $1500.
Crown prosecutor Nandini Turner argued Rustila premeditated his acts and abused his position of trust and authority.
The victim suffered from depression and anxiety as a result of the abuse, the Crown argued.
However, Judge Singh found a community-based sentence was appropriate, given the church would implement a safety plan.
He said the offending was on the lower end of the spectrum, so Rustila was not to be placed on the Child Sex Offenders Register.
He would be subjected to two years of intensive supervision with special conditions, which included electronic monitoring conditions, not having contact with people under 16 unless in the presence of people approved by his probation officer, not entering exclusion zones where children may congregate and residing at a specific address in Whanganui, which was owned by the church.
The church has also been involved in historical allegations of sexual abuse.
Father Damian Carlile, an Australian priest, is alleged to have abused altar boys in the early 2000s.
A settlement from SSPX Whanganui has been sought by the alleged victims of Carlile.