07-05-2025
Two new abuse complaints against religious sect, the Two by Twos
The religious sect is believed to have about 2500 members and 60 ministers in New Zealand.
Photo:
123RF
WARNING: This story includes content that may be disturbing.
Police have received two more complaints of abuse within a secretive sect known as the Two by Twos.
The FBI is
investigating
the sect for historical child sexual abuse, and two Northland men have already appeared in court over historic sex offences.
Police confirmed they received two new complaints in the last three weeks.
They would not say whether the alleged abuse was recent or historic, or where in New Zealand it was said to have happened.
In December a former minister of the Two by Twos,
Bill Easton was jailed for 13 years
after pleading guilty to 55 charges of abusing six boys between the 1960s and 1980s.
Judge Brandt Shortland described his offending as "unprecedented".
Another man, who has name suppression, is
awaiting trial
after pleading not guilty in February to 12 charges of indecent assault, two of performing an indecent act and one each of sodomy and bestiality.
The four complainants were boys aged between 12 and 16 when the alleged incidents occurred in the 1970s and 80s.
A hallmark of the Christian sect, which has no official name but is known as The Truth or the Two by Twos, is that its itinerant ministers travel in pairs and stay in members' homes.
It is believed to have about 2500 members and 60 ministers in New Zealand.
If it is an emergency and you feel like you or someone else is at risk, call 111.
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