STRANGE ALLEGATIONS

Chronicle (Levin), 3 September 1948, Page 4

STRANGE ALLEGATIONS

Press Association)

Appaliing Case If True, Says Judge

(Per

WELLINGTON, Sept.- 2. "1 was wai'iiecl that if ever 1 brought this matter before a Judge or Magistrate, I would -lie of a eancer or a tOrrible tumour. " This was stated by . Laurence Bailey iu the Supreme Court wlieu lie sought restitution of eonjugal rights with Pliyllis Bailey; Mr, Justiee Cornish was on the Beuch. Dr. O. C. Mazengarb, K.C., witli him Mr. C. H. Hain, appeared for petitioner aud Mr. J. H. Oaldey for respondeut. " . ' The coutentiou of petitioner was that his wife left him and their children as the result of doctrines preached by the Commonwenlth Co'venaut Ohurch, that she should live apart from him becausehe was not a member pf the faith, said Dr. Mazeugarb. The younger children were ali with the father. Sermons preached at the church were c-yclo-slyled and sent to members. Mr. Oaldey said Mrs; Bailey alleged c.ruelty which, in eft'ect, had eauied herto leave home. She alleged physLcal aird sexual assaults on hefself by her ' husband. Petitioner had ' forced- re- ■ spoudent to carry on; indecent sexual malpractices. ■*. Dr. Mazeugarb. said the whoie •issue was whether petitioner should, put d&wn all his wordly goods on-the altar of tliis alleged church at Lower Ilutt. The husuand's dcsire was to haye his wife back to himself aud the children. Mr. Oaldey said respondeut had been forced by her husband to give in to all sorts of abnormal desires and demands. She had put up with it through the fear that her husband would kill her as he had threatened to do. When Mr. Oaldey called, respondent, she refused to be -sworn on the Bible. She said it was not right to swear on the Bible. She made an aftirmation, She gave evidence on the lines indicated by Mr. Oakl&y. ' 4 Tliings got so bad, ' ' she said, "that I thought about taking my life." She alleged cruelty to the children as the result of which the eldest son 'left home. AVitness said she had joined the Commonwealth Covenant Church ih Lower llutt aud had tried to live up'to the-way oi' life the minister preached. Her husband seemed demented ahd had ofteu acted in a ferocious spirit. She had been going to church for about 13 years with her huslihud. "If the allegations made by respondent are true, then this i^ the most appaliing case I have ever listened to and I have listened to some pretty bad oues, ' ' said his Honour at the morning adjournment. Dr. Mazeugarb read extracts from the c'j'clostyled sermons issued by "Brather Prank." One of them was titled "Adviee and instruetion on separation of husbands and wives if necessary, acnording-to the Seriptures.-" Pollowing one extraet, his Ilonpur said: 4 4 That does not sound very much like a sermon. It seems very much depafted from what a Christian person would regard as suc-h. " Pollowing a further passage, his Honour said: 4 'These people aro evidentiy a kind of primitive fundamen(talists. I want ito know whether as a self-respecting woman resppndent left home." ... Dr. Mazeugarb: I want to show that. these ideas were put into the woman 's head through these sermons -.and lee-* •tures. __ Dr. Mazeugarb to . respondent: Do you remepiber a court case in Nelson when 4 4Brother- Frank 's" brother was sent tp prison for six we.eks for beating his child? Witness: His namb is -Eric Wilson. Counsel: Do you remember "Rrother Prank" sayiiig that he also atlvised the beating of children? Witness: Yes. Auswering a question from the Beuch, witness sajd she was prepared to go back to her husband under her own conditions. She would live with him as a sister. There must be no muritai relations in any circumstances. H e could not rob her of her church. Slie would no't go back to him unless he went to church again with her. Giving evidence, petitioner said he had gone into camp in 1942, ' He became ill and his wife ' visited" him with Brother Prank Wilson. Wilson had asked him to get out of the army as quiekly as possible. Witness had been diseharged from the army through ill health and had gone back to the church. He had been asked by Wilson to stand in the congregatiou. Wilson had said: 44 Brother Bailey has a uniform. Any creepiug, crawling yellow cur could get into a uniform and hold a rifle but it takes a man with guts to go into a eonscientious objeetors' camp." On two occasions "Wilson had come to him and asked him to sell up his house, ear and all his belongings and put them on the altar of the Church of Jesus Christ at Lower Huft. When liis Honour said he found this very hard to believe, Dr. Mazengarb said the statements witness was making were borue out by statements in the cyclostvled sermons. Witness denied his wife's allegations about assaults or that he ever threatened to shoot her. He said he had heard shuilar allegations and worse ones by members of the church in open confession. His "Honour: I want to know how a wife could -come along and teil about her husband 's pract-ices that are sickening. _ Witness: The whole thing is based on finance. Mrs. Bailey is used as a tool by Prank Wilson. She is influenced by a deinoniac and evil power to get nie t'o lay all I have on the altar. WitnesS said he used to go to ehurch nine to 11 times a week. It was a command. An average of from 250 to 700 people turned up to meetings. Some of them were day and' night "prayer warriors, " a term coined by Wilson. After ivituess had decided to leave the church, Wilson visited him. The estate of witness 's father had just been wound up and Wilson had come because he found out that witness had inherited some.money.