An independent investigation is underway at Wesley College after disturbing claims surfaced that staff performed \u201cdeliverance and exorcism\u201d rituals on students to rid them of \u201cdemonic serpents.\u201d Allegedly conducted in darkened rooms without parental consent, the Pentecostal-style ceremonies involved \u201claying hands,\u201d speaking in tongues, and encouraging students to cast out dark forces from peers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Two staff members have been suspended over the rituals, while a third faces unrelated negligence claims. Methodist Church president Te Aroha Rountree said she was \u201cshocked\u201d by the whistleblower\u2019s revelations and confirmed the church acted swiftly to remove those involved. \u201cThese kinds of practices were denounced in most mainline churches years ago,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The allegations come amid broader turmoil at the school. In November, the Ministry of Education urgently shut down Wesley\u2019s hostels over serious safety concerns, prompting the church to dissolve the school\u2019s trust board. A dossier obtained by the Herald reveals a troubling pattern: broken security cameras, unaddressed assaults, staff shortages, and a suicide risk mishandled due to poor communication.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One staff member allegedly showed students a video of himself performing an exorcism on a village girl in Indonesia. Another consultant reportedly joked about \u201cmicro-chipping\u201d students and using electric shocks\u2014comments dismissed as humour but later followed by a renewed contract.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Reverend Ali\u2019itasi Aoina-Salesa, the school\u2019s chaplain, warned in a November email that unsanctioned prayer meetings were \u201cadding further fuel to an already unsettling time.\u201d She stressed that the spiritual welfare of students lies with the Methodist Church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Principal Brian Evans confirmed the investigation and said the practices \u201chave no place\u201d at Wesley. He acknowledged the school\u2019s turbulent years but called the current moment a \u201ctimely reset.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rountree reiterated the church\u2019s commitment to student safety and transparency, saying, \u201cThere is absolutely no place for this behaviour at Wesley College.\u201d Legal expert Bridget Smith is leading the investigation, with findings expected next month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Ministry of Education has acknowledged the concerns and continues to support both the trust and school boards as they navigate the fallout.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
An independent investigation is underway at Wesley College after disturbing claims surfaced that staff performed \u201cdeliverance and exorcism\u201d rituals on students to rid them of \u201cdemonic serpents.\u201d Allegedly conducted in darkened rooms without parental consent, the Pentecostal-style ceremonies involved \u201claying hands,\u201d speaking in tongues, and encouraging students to cast out dark forces from peers. Two<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[40,41],"tags":[405,406,404],"coauthors":[380],"class_list":{"0":"post-9546","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-faith","7":"category-new-zealand","8":"tag-exorcism","9":"tag-laying-of-hands","10":"tag-wesley-college"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9546","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9546"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9546\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9549,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9546\/revisions\/9549"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9546"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9546"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9546"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcoauthors&post=9546"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}