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Offender Databases James Gilchrist

James Gilchrist

Alias

Jim Gilchrist

Offences

Convicted of 25 indecency charges involving 11 young people in his care between 1978 and 1991.

Victims

.

Offender Affiliations

.

Gang affiliations

none known

Age

Born 1957

Current Location

At large in Henderson, Auckland

Parole/Release Dates

Sentenced to 3 years 6 months by the Auckland High Court in December 1991

Background
In 1988 Gilchrist, 34-year-old father of five, with the backing and support of the Social Welfare Department , set up Heartbeat City Ministries an Auckland Christian youth organization which catered for delinquent or disturbed youths. The department referred some cases to him. Some of the indecencies which Gilchrist admitted to were committed while he was an administrator for Youth for Christ before 1988, others at Christian camps and in his own home.

In December 1993 it was revealed that Gilchrist had been released and was helping run a taxpayer-funded quasi-Christian trust which, again, catered for disadvantaged youths. Convicted rapist Mark Stephens, also known as the Parnell Panther, was also helping to run the trust. Gilchrist was the office manager of Hauhanga Rongo Ministries Trust in Howick, Auckland. Two of its programmes were subsidised by the Taskforce Green scheme involving taxpayers' money of some $77,000. One of the programmes was a "hugs not drugs' programme implemented in schools and maraes.

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Corrections and Additional Information
We endeavour to make this database as accurate as possible, but we are at the mercy of whatever information we can find in various online and offline archives. We rely on the public - that is, people like you - to fill in the gaps that we cannot. If you wish to submit additional information or a correction to this file CLICK HERE . Privacy: Trust policy is that all sources are treated as strictly confidential unless we are explicitly told otherwise. If you wish to see a file removed from this database certain conditions must be met by the offender set out HERE Note that this does NOT apply for those that are the primary offender in a murder, rape, or any sexual offending involving minors. We do not enter into correspondence regarding the guilt/innocence of offenders. Such correspondence is not responded to, especially if the offender concerned has a number of prior convictions

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