Victims come forward after late minister named a child sex offender

A dozen victims have now come forward saying they have been abused by a Presbyterian minister.

The Presbyterian Church says nine further victims have now contacted the church about abuse at the hands of former minister David Wentworth Pimm after he was named as a child sex offender.

Pimm, who died in 2014, worked as a minister at various churches around the country from 1955 until his retirement in Feilding in 2003.

On 2 November the church said it was working with three of Pimm's victims and believed there were more, so it was naming him to encourage others to come forward for redress.

Executive secretary Reverend Erin Pendreigh said the church had now been contacted by 12 victims in total.

In a church newsletter, Pendreigh said the church's wellbeing coordinator had had a number of emails and phone calls from survivors, most of them indicating they knew others who were harmed.

"It has been interesting to hear from many that they were unaware of our redress system, or of our public apology last year. It took us naming David Pimm for them to realise we wanted to hear from them. For all our previous best efforts last year, the ripple of our intent hadn't reached some of those who had been harmed by us," she said.

"I received one message from a person who had drafted a letter a year ago - after our public apology. They shared of their experience, trying to raise the alarm regarding the behaviour of the minster, and how they felt the system had closed ranks on them and shut their efforts out."

Pendreigh earlier said the Presbyterian parish in Opotiki received complaints about the abuse of a child in 2001 and 2002, followed by a 2010 complaint a victim had been abused in Karamea several decades earlier.

The 2001-2002 complaints resulted in Presbyterian Church disciplinary commission hearings in 2002 and in 2003.

"In 2003, before the end of the hearing, David Pimm resigned from the [Presbyterian Church]. I would speculate that he did so to escape the consequences of the potential findings of that commission, consequences could have included censure and the publication of his name," Pendreigh said.

No further action was taken when he resigned because of the church's rules at the time, which were changed at its 2006 general assembly, she said.

The church deeply regretted Pimm's actions and the harm he had caused and victims were let down, Pendreigh said.

"If you spoke up and were not believed or silenced, or asked to forgive, that was terribly wrong and we are truly sorry.

"We know that one of the Opotiki victims spoke up and was not believed. We believe, sadly, that this is likely to have been the experience of other victims."

The church's culture had changed in responding to historic abuse as a result of the work of survivors and the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care, Pendreigh said.

"As our moderator said in our public apology to all our survivors last year, we failed to provide protection and we didn't act when alarms were raised. We did not uphold our own values and commitments to vulnerable children. This breach of trust is unjustifiable and we have such profound remorse that this heart-breaking abuse was allowed to happen."

Pimm was originally from Mataura Presbyteryn in Southland and studied to be a Home Missionary, or unordained minister, in Mataura in 1955.

His first position was in Granity-Karamea on the West Coast, where he remained until 1958.

Pimm was known to be involved with children and youth activities on the coast.

He trained as a minister in Dunedin from 1959 to 1961.

Pimm's first parish was in Fortrose in Southland, where he was based from 1961 to 1965, and might have been involved in children's activities in neighbouring parishes in the region.

He was based in Opotiki from 1966 to 1971 and Hawke's Bay from 1972 to 1978.

Pimm was an itinerant minister from 1978 to 1981, the church did not have precise dates for his bases during that time.

He is believed to have been in Titoki in 1979, Southern Urewera in 1979 and in Lauder in Central Otago from late 1979 to 1980.

In 1980 he was in Kelso in West Otago, Riversdale in Southland and Akaroa on Banks Peninsula.

He was then based at St John's in Palmerston North from February 1981 to January 1986, when he retired.

The church said Pimm might have continued to assist in other parishes.

He retired to Knox Presbyterian Church in Feilding in 2003 and remained there for some years.

The church said anyone who wanted to report historic abuse by Pimm, or historic abuse by anyone connected with the Presbyterian Church, was encouraged to contact the church to discuss options or make a claim for redress.

Where to get help: Sexual Violence