Warning: The following article contains discussion of child sex abuse that some readers may find disturbing
The co-founder of a cult described as the ‘real Handmaid’s Tale’ has revealed the moment he decided to quit the community.
This came in a new documentary available to watch on iPlayer after airing on BBC 2 called Escaping Utopia.
The documentary series follows a New Zealand cult called Gloriavale, a community centred around female subservience, the threat of rapture, and sexual abuse.
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The documentary centres predominantly around a man named Boaz Benjamin who is looking to leave the secretive community.
Boaz was sexually abused as a child and, following the birth of his kids, is looking to escape Gloriavale.
By the end of the doc he has left, and is played footage of his grandfather, Judah Benammi, who Boaz has never met.
Judah was one of the original members of the community, but describes how the founder of the cult, Neville Cooper, became gradually more sexual in the ideas of what the community was.
Benammi spoke in an interview given to Melanie Reid, a journalist who infiltrated the cult in the 1990s to reveal much of the abuse going on.
The co-founder said: “Neville [Cooper] first started to talk about ‘man and his wife should be much closer’.
“Then he started to preach that they had to be closer sexually.
“Then he started to have demonstration sexual sessions in front of big open fires.”
Many of those who have since left the Gloriavale community spoke of how they were made to watch their parents having sex, or how they themselves were forced to be watched by others while they had sex.
Of these shocking interviews, another given involves Neville Cooper’s son Christian, who spoke of how his father made him have sex with Christian’s wife in front of him.
In addition to this, Neville ‘fondled’ Christian’s wife in front of him as part of their post-marriage ‘education’.
Judah’s interview went on to say of ‘demonstration sexual sessions’: “They also used to spread out on the floor covered in blankets and they would virtually all have sex together.
“Then of course [Neville] built a spa pool, ‘Mum and Dad’ were encouraged to go naked into the spa pool but then the teenage girls and boys were encouraged to go naked with ‘Mum and Dad’.”
He went on to describe how Neville would go into the pool with naked girls as young as 13 or 14.
This led the co-founder to say ‘you’ve lost it mate, you haven’t got a church here you’ve got a brothel.’
Boaz becomes emotional on being shown his grandfather’s interviews, pointing to how it proves exactly what the senior members of the cult currently deny ever happened or happens.
Founder Neville Cooper was convicted in 1995 of 11 charges of indecent assault and the leader of the cult that succeeded him, Howard Temple, was also charged with several sexual offences in 2023 and is awaiting trial.
Escaping Utopia is available to stream on BBC iPlayer.
If you have been affected by any of the issues in this article and wish to speak to someone in confidence, contact The Survivors Trust for free on 08088 010 818, available 10am-12.30pm, 1.30pm-3pm and 6pm-8pm Monday to Thursday, 10am-12.30pm and 1.30pm-3pm on Fridays, 10am-12.30pm on Saturdays and 6pm-8pm on Sundays.
Topics: BBC, TV and Film, TV, Documentaries
Michael Slavin