Howard Temple
Photo: The Press/Kai Schwoerer
Former Gloriavale leader Howard Temple has won a High Court appeal quashing his jail sentence
Temple will instead serve a period of home detention
Former Gloriavale member disappointed Temple will avoid jail time, worried it sends wrong message to perpetrators
Convicted sex offender and former Gloriavale leader Howard Temple will not be jailed after winning a High Court appeal against his sentence.
Temple was sentenced to 26 months’ jail in December for indecently assaulting young women and girls at the West Coast Christian community over 20 years.
The 85-year-old immediately appealed and has been on bail.
At a hearing in February, Temple’s lawyer Michael Vesty argued the sentence was excessive, given his age, bail conditions and mild cognitive impairment.
He argued the sentence should be reduced to two years or less to allow for home detention.
In a reserved judgment released on Tuesday, Justice Paulsen said Temple would now face a sentence of 11 months’ home detention at a Greymouth property.
“A sentence of home detention would be a significant sentence for Mr Temple given his age and the effect of further separation from his community,” Justice Paulsen said.
“That will serve to hold Mr Temple accountable for the harm he has caused the victims.”
Justice Paulsen found that the starting point of roughly 36 months was excessive and should have been no more than 30 months’ imprisonment, but did not accept there was an error in the judge’s approach to the discounts applied.
Temple’s name would also be removed from the child sex offender register.
Registration was no longer automatic once the prison sentence was quashed.
While the offending was “repetitive and spanning a significant period of time”, Justice Paulsen said the seriousness was at the lower end of the range of qualifying offences, none of the victims were at Gloriavale anymore, and the Christian community had introduced a risk management policy for people who were involved in harmful sexual behaviour.
The changes made at Gloriavale combined with Temple’s low risk of reoffending and reduced involvement in the community satisfied him that registration was not appropriate, he said.
“I am satisfied he does not pose a risk to the lives or sexual safety of children,” he said.
On Tuesday, Vesty said his client was pleased the matter had concluded.
A former Gloriavale member, who RNZ has agreed not name, said he felt like Temple had been let off the hook and it sent a weak message to perpetrators of abuse.
It was an “excessively inappropriate outcome given the seriousness of the offending,” he said.
He felt bad for the women who had come forward to expose his offending only to to have his sentence reduced, he said.
The man did not believe that Temple had shown the “sincere heartfelt remorse” or accountability they deserved.
He wanted the decision to be appealed, saying he believed the original sentence was fair.
Gloriavale has been contacted for comment.
Temple was arrested in 2023 and denied the offending until part-way through his 2025 trial when he pleaded guilty to amended charges.
He admitted five counts of indecent assault, five of doing an indecent act and two of common assault – many of the charges were representative.
Temple was in a position of power at Gloriavale when the offending against six girls and young women happened between 2002 and 2022.
Temple resigned as Overseeing Shepherd in December, with Stephen Standfast taking on the leadership role.
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