Category: Order of Saint Charbel

Nowra cult leader William Kamm might have been an “odd little man” who wrote overtly sexual letters to a 15-year-old girl. But his writings did not prove anything more than a desire for sexual contact which was “never crystallised”, Kamm’s lawyer Gregory Stanton told a jury yesterday. The Crown and defence took turns to address the jury as Kamm’s trial neared its end. Kamm, 55, also known as Little Pebble, has pleaded not guilty to four counts of aggravated indecent assault and one count of aggravated sexual intercourse with the girl in 1993, after he chose her as one of

A jury has been urged to convict the leader of a NSW religious commune for sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl more than a decade ago. William Kamm, known to his followers as The Little Pebble, is standing trial in the NSW District Court on four charges of indecent assault and one of aggravated sexual intercourse without consent. The trial before Judge John Williams resumed today with prosecutor Richard Herps calling for a guilty verdict on all five charges relating to incidents at the commune near Nowra on the NSW south coast in 1993. Mr Herps told the jury the 55-year-old

A Nowra religious cult leader, accused of repeatedly sexually assaulting a young female follower, had believed the Virgin Mary chose him to spawn a new race that would survive the end of the world, a jury has heard. The girl was just two months past her 15th birthday when she accepted William “Little Pebble” Kamm‘s invitation to become one of his 12 “mystical wives”. She believed she would become pregnant “spiritually” – perhaps through a hug. And her parents rejoiced and encouraged the marriage, not thinking it involved any sex. Kamm is accused of four counts of aggravated indecent assault

When news spread through the Order of St Charbel religious community that their leader William Kamm was going to choose queens and princesses, the girls were filled with anticipation. “We were all hoping that one of us would be a queen or somebody special in God’s eyes,” one of his former followers told Sydney District Court yesterday. But the woman, who was chosen at 15 to be one of Kamm’s “queens”, told the court that in the months after she accepted the role Kamm repeatedly indecently assaulted her. Kamm, otherwise known as the Little Pebble, is on trial for four

Members of a doomsday cult with about 100 Victorian followers are under investigation for welfare fraud. Centrelink confirmed last night it was looking into allegations involving members of William Kamm’s Order of St Charbel cult, which has several communes on Victorian country properties. The allegations relate to 130 cases of suspected welfare fraud. They involve members who were allegedly paid government benefits, such as the single parent payment, to which they were not entitled. Mr Kamm, known as The Little Pebble, has a history of predicting the end of the world. Centrelink national manager Hank Jongen confirmed the agency was

Self-styled seer and cult leader William Kamm appeared in a NSW court yesterday on charges he sexually assaulted two teenage followers allegedly selected to be among 12 so-called “queens” who would bear him children. The 54-year-old founder of the Order of Saint Charbel doomsday cult, who goes by the name of Little Pebble, has pleaded not guilty to nine counts of sexual abuse. Mr Kamm remained silent during his brief appearance at Wollongong District Court as his legal counsel sought permission to transfer the matter to Sydney. The Crown raised no objections to having the highly publicised case tried before

NSW child protection agencies are investigating a federally funded private school on the state’s south coast that is linked to a doomsday cult. St Joseph’s School has received $332,000 in federal funding since 1996. It is built inside the compound of the Order of St Charbel in Cambewarra, near Nowra, and has as its spiritual leader William Kamm, also known as “Little Pebble”. Mr Kamm and the order were denounced by then Catholic Archbishop of Melbourne George Pell in 1997 after a report found he had asked female devotees to bear his children through mystical marriages. St Joseph’s, a 31-student