Former Destiny Church member jailed for sexually abusing boys

A sexual predator, who used his religious work and associated with the Destiny Church, to violate teenage boys has been convicted and jailed for his despicable acts. The 29-year-old Kiwa Hemi Tamati Edward Hamiora-Te Hira had in December 2024 pleaded guilty to the charges of sexual offences and was on Monday (March 17) sentenced to six years and four months in prison by the Manukau District Court.

While reading out the sentence to Hamiora-Te Hira, Judge Clare Bennett observed that his victims were aged between 13 and 24 years. They had come to the convict, who was a member of the Destiny Church, for counselling where he won their trust and then went on to sexually abuse them, the judge noted.

The convict was working with Boys2Men and Youth Nation when he met his victims who were young boys then.


Hamiora-Te Hira was found guilty after many of his victims described the details of what transpired between them. One of the victims described Hamiora-Te Hira as a "brother and a father figure", outlining the deep faith and trust they had placed on the perpetrator. "He was like a brother... father figure to me. I have flashbacks and nightmares about what happened," stated the victim.

Judge Bennett pointed out that Hamiora-Te Hira was “persistent and pernicious” in his predatory behaviour.

As soon as allegations of Hamiora-Te Hira's sexual offences surfaced, the Destiny Church member was forced to leave the religious congregation and police launched an investigation.

A few of his victims, who were in their teens, also lived at his residence in South Auckland. During their time at his home, Hamiora-Te Hira abused them several times, mostly in their sleep.

During the court hearing on Monday, many of his victims recounted their ordeal, revealing how they considered him their big brother and looked up to him as a father-figure. But his sexual abuse broke their trust.

At least one of those abused stated that he was helpless when he was at Hamiora-Te Hira's home and was afraid of confronting his abuser. He only revealed the details after his younger brother told their mother that he had also been abused.

Judge Bennett lauded the courage shown by the survivors. “In my view the breach of trust in this case was egregious. These young men were putting their trust in Mr Hamiora-Te Hira, to be counselled by him and to find his place as a safe refuge. He abused that trust. It was persistent and carried on for a long time. The harm to victims is incalculable... having said that all the young men struck me as being brave but extremely resilient,” she said during the hearing.

Hamiora-Te Hira had in December admitted to one charge of sexual violation and seven charges of indecent assault during the court proceedings in December 2024.