Stephen Gough appears in the Waitakere Distrct Court. Photo / Jason Oxenham
A former woodwork teacher repeatedly molested children
aged between three and 16
while reading passages from the bible
and posing as a churchgoer.
Another Church of God member has been sent to prison for child molestation. This time it was a man in New Zealand. He was a former member of the Worldwide Church of God in Auckland and has recently been the spokesman for Fred Coulter's Christian Biblical Church of God.
Earlier today I received several emails concerning this case. I checked on Gavin's
site and he also had the story up.
The London Daily News carried this story: He Used Children As Sexual Toys
The New Zealand Herald has this: Teacher Molested Children While Reading From Bible
Christian Today: Teacher Scentenced To Prison For Molesting Chidlren While Reading The Bible
I am on a Facebook page that one of his children is on and this person has spoken how he molested his own children. They described recently how they had been testifying in court to lock the bastard away.
Amazingly this guy only got three and half years in prison, though the authorizes are expecting more people to come forward and will review the case against him to add more time.
The London Daily News says:
A former woodwork teacher repeatedly molested children aged between three and 16 while reading passages from the bible and posing as a churchgoer.
79-year-old Stephen Gough admitted to nine acts of child sex abuse charges on Wednesday at Waitakere District Court in New Zealand.
He received three-and-a-half years behind bars for his disturbing crimes.
The judge said that Mr Gough carefully orchestrated his acts and used the children as 'sexual toys'.
While the story does not say if he molested church members children, it is highly likely he did since he was also molesting his own children. I wonder how many of the WCG members testified against the guy?
It was revealed that Gough would read passages from the bible to the innocent children while sexually abusing them, between 1976 and 1987.
The court also heard that Gough watched children showering by carving out a peep hole under a house.
His crimes only came to light after his victims came forward last year.
The New Zealand Herald says this:
A former Auckland teacher posed as a God-fearing churchgoer but behind closed doors molested children while reading passages from the bible, a court has heard.
Stephen Gough - who can be named for the first time after name suppression lapsed - was jailed for three and a half years at Waitakere District Court yesterday after admitting nine sex charges.
The 79-year-old man, who propped himself up in the dock with the aid of a walking stick, committed "persistent, relentless and repeated" offences against three girls and a boy between 1976 and 1987.
Sentencing Judge Kevin Glubb said Gough, a former intermediate school woodwork teacher was an active member of the church and gained people's confidence by his standing in the community.
"It's hard to imagine a more gross breach of trust," he said.
Some of the most shocking revelations which emerged in court were that Gough would molest victims, aged between 3 and 16, while reading the bible.
The court also heard how the offender made a peep hole under a house so he could watch children in the shower.
The Church of God has a very sad history of covering up for child molesters in its midst. Ministers and church leaders covered up for many of the molesters over the decades. Some were ministers themselves. They got transferred to other areas where they did it all over again.
Gough has apparently been caught doing this before since court records state that he has been in three separate programs to deal with his sexual deviance.
The court heard that by 1993 Gough had completed three programmes addressing his deviant sexual urges and now considered himself to be "fully cured of the terrible addiction".
Compounding this horrible issue is that parents knew he was molesting their children and they did NOTHING about it! This too is a long held standard in Armstrongism. Parents refused to believe that another church member could do such a thing. They did not want the embarrassment of having to tell the story and they did not want to bring shame upon the church. It was preferable for the children to suffer instead. This is still going on today in the Philadelphia Church of God and other groups.
One of Gough's victims told the Herald his offending had ruined her life.
She said people around her knew what he was doing, but never intervened. She struggles with that daily.
"It was horrible. My mother knew this was going on, the neighbours knew, other relatives... no one ever did anything," she said.
She also believed there would be more victims and was pleased his name suppression had lapsed so his crimes could be "put out there finally".
"I have just about died five times in the last year. I've overdosed, I'm just so depressed, so pissed off with life - I'm just sick of it," she said.
"I hate him. He did this to me from when I was a little girl... I just want what he did acknowledged."
The victim said she was angry at Gough, whose "disgusting" offending had pushed her to drugs, alcohol and an eating disorder.
"I've been an alcohol and drug addict since forever. I had good jobs, I've been a good mum but what he did impacts on my life hugely."
She said his guilty plea was "a relief", but it didn't take her pain away.
"Two months ago I tried to take my life... it was pretty bad, they thought I was going to die this time.
It's pretty hard. He has totally and completely ruined my life, I'm a complete mess. I drink to forget... I've been to rehab four times, I got sectioned last year because of my drinking. I'm so f***ing angry."
She said Gough had apologised to her, but his words meant nothing.
"It wasn't just the sexual abuse, he had me living in terror. I will never get over that.
If you would like to speak to police about Stephen Gough, please call Detective Sergeant Murray Free at the Waitakere police on 09 477 5021.
