Graham Capill

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Graham Capill (born 1959) is a former New Zealand Christian leader and politician. He served as the first leader of the now-defunct Christian Heritage Party, stepping down in 2003. In 2005 he was convicted of multiple sexual offences against girls under 12 years of age.

1 Early life
2 Christian Heritage Party
3 Police work
4 Indecent assault and rape imprisonment
5 See also
6 References

[edit] Early life

Capill was born in western Africa, his parents being Christian missionaries. Most of his youth was spent in New Zealand, mainly in the city of Christchurch. He was educated at Middleton Grange, a large fundamentalist Protestant school in that city, where his father, Donald Capill, was Vice-Principal for most of the seventies. Capill is married, and has ten children. He has described his religious beliefs as Presbyterian by conviction, although he chose to attend an Anglican church because his own was too accepting of "false teachers and those who are sexually permissive".

Initially, Capill worked in the aviation industry, qualifying as a pilot and an avionics engineer. Later, however, Capill decided to become a minister, and studied towards a Bachelor of Divinity degree at the Reformed Theological College in Geelong, Australia. He gained his degree in 1986, and returned to New Zealand to complete an internship at Wellington before becoming a minister of the Reformed Church of Dunedin in 1988. Following his return, he also gained a law degree.

[edit] Christian Heritage Party

The Christian Heritage Party, founded in 1989, held its first convention in 1990. Capill was officially appointed the new party's leader in June of that year. He remained leader of the party through five elections, but the party failed to win any seats. Capill announced his retirement shortly after the 2002 general election, and stepped down in 2003. He was succeeded as party leader by Ewen McQueen. In November 2004 Capill resigned from the Christian Heritage citing differences of opinion over the party's new direction since his retirement.

[edit] Police work

After leaving politics, he was employed as a dispatcher in the Southern Communications Centre of the New Zealand Police. Within a year he had been moved to be a police prosecutor at the Christchurch District Court, but was stood down in early 2005 pending criminal charges.

[edit] Indecent assault and rape imprisonment

On 23 March, 2005, while still the subject of a name suppression order, Capill was assaulted ("punched and left whimpering on the ground") outside the Christchurch high court. The media referred to "a prominent New Zealander". ^[1]

On 1 April, 2005 name suppression was lifted and Capill pleaded guilty to a charge of indecently assaulting an eight-year old girl on four occasions. ^[2]. These events took place between the years of 2001 and 2002, while Capill was still leader of Christian Heritage. His activities were brought to an end by the Rev Wally Behan, vicar of St John's Anglican Church, Latimer Square, Christchurch, the church which the Capill family attended. Rev Behan was acting on information received from some of the victims, and also on information brought to his attention by Adam Owens, a political operative who had been employed by Mr Capill in 2002 but who fell out with Capill and campaigned publicly for him to be removed from office. Owens had been bringing information about Capill's sexual offences to the attention of Christian Heritage officials for more than a year, but was met with denials. Further charges of rape and indecent assault against girls aged under 12 (committed during the 1990s) followed. ^[3] ^[4]. As Capill had strongly condemned "sexual perversion" throughout his political career, the revelations had particular impact. Capill's conduct was swiftly condemned by Christian Heritage.

On 28 June, 2005 Capill entered guilty pleas on a further three charges of indecent assault, one of rape, and one of unlawful sexual connection, all committed against girls under the age of 12. Newspaper reports now describe him as "a sexual predator", and he was remanded in custody while awaiting sentencing. On 14 July 2005 Capill was sentenced to imprisonment for 9 years. ^[5] Prior to his sentencing, he sent an e-mail to supporters ^[6], asking for forgiveness and that they pray for a light sentence, also claiming that the sex with one of the young girls was "consensual". His lawyer said that the e-mail, intended to gain sympathy and support, backfired and was ill-advised. Judge Kerr said the email sent by Capill to supporters demonstrated he had yet to fully appreciate the enormity of his offending.

On 16 August he appealed the sentence to the dismay of his critics. ^[7] The appeal was abandoned on January 31, 2006. (TV3 News)

Capill had earned a law degree before the revelation of his serial paedophile offending. However, on August 9, 2006, Capill was forbidden to practice law and fined $3123 at a disciplinary hearing (although Capill had never practiced law privately, and described his legal studies as a "hobby"). Concerns were raised that Capill's wife and children might be unfairly burdened by this latest development, due to his inability to earn income as a prisoner.^[8]

On 3 October, 2006, his successor, Ewen McQueen, announced the dissolution of Christian Heritage New Zealand, blaming Capill's conviction and disgrace for its demise. ^[9]