By Alison Piotrowski

A 17-year-old boy has been charged with the murder of former Twelve Tribes cult leader Chen Czarnecki, 64, who died in an allegedly deliberately lit fire in rural northern New South Wales.

Mr Czarnecki, formerly known as Scott, was an elder in the Twelve Tribes, and an establishing member of the Australian arm of the controversial cult.

Mr Czarnecki’s death comes nine months after a controversial interview with A Current Affair, where the former leader discussed in detail his three decades at the helm of the religious sect.

Emergency services were called to Mr Czarnecki’s Smiths Creek property, 40km west of Lismore at about 5.45pm on Sunday 16 August, following reports it was alight. Crews from the local Rural Fire Service took several hours to extinguish the blaze.

Police arrested a 17-year-old boy in nearby Kyogle a few days later.

He has been charged with murder, improperly interfering with a corpse and malicious damage by fire.

He has been refused bail and will face court again at the end of October.

At the time Mr Czarnecki talked about his concerns over the lack of medical care available to members within the Twelve Tribes community, including confirmation that stillborn babies were disposed of without proper registration.

“There were babies that were still born. There were babies that struggled to live, definitely the whole gamut,” Mr Czarnecki told A Current Affair reporter Alison Piotrowski.

READ MORE: Dig for stillborn bodies at controversial sect headquarters in NSW

“All I can say is a lot of those things did happen. And some of those things probably would have been preventable.”

Mr Czarnecki also discussed the group’s controversial approach to disciplining children with sticks.

“How did I feel about it? I thought it was great” he said.

“It’s more like dog training. It’s really reducing them down to a more of a primal level you’re not reasoning.”

It is understood NSW detectives later visited Mr Czarnecki as part of their investigation into the cult.

In February Strike Force Nanegai detectives conducted raids on multiple Twelve Tribes properties, with forensic teams digging for human remains.

Mr Czarnecki’s family could not be reached for comment.

NSW Police say investigations into Strike Force Nanegai are continuing.

Source: The Daily Mail

By Adam Mccleery and Charlotte Karp For Daily Mail Australia

Published: 15:36 AEDT, 8 March 2020 | Updated: 15:37 AEDT, 8 March 2020

The decayed remains of at least one baby have allegedly been found buried in a coffin-like box at the headquarters of secretive religious sect Twelve Tribes.

Two police raids at Peppercorn Creek Farm in Picton and at a 78.5-hectare property near Bigga, south-west of Sydney, began on Monday.

The operation is part of an ongoing investigation into the high number of stillbirths within the community which rejects modern medicine and technology.

Excavation of the property was suspended after the alleged find on Wednesday afternoon, according to the Daily Telegraph.

Sources told the publication it was too early to tell whether the remains were of one or two infants, and the delicate retrieval process was delayed by heavy downpour.

Police have allegedly uncovered the remains of at least one infant at the headquarters of religious sect Twelve Tribes in Bigga, New South Wales (pictured)

New South Wales Police will not yet publicly comment on the operation, which was suspended on Thursday.

‘There are no further updates in relation to Strike Force Nanegai at this time,’ NSW Police said in a statement.

Three graves have been uncovered at the Bigga site – which has no running water or electricity and is only used when members of the secretive sect are exiled for questioning their beliefs, A Current Affair reported.

Police raids began at Peppercorn Creek Farm in Picton and a 78.5-hectare property near Bigga (pictured), southwest of Sydney, on Monday

Twelve Tribes is guarded about its privacy and members of the sect are expected to live by a set of rigid guidelines which govern almost every aspect of their daily lives

The raid comes after former member Rosemary Cruzado told the publication her late-term stillborn baby was buried at the Bigga property.

She believes her baby’s death could have been avoided if she had seen a modern doctor earlier in her pregnancy.

Twelve Tribes has been investigated by police since September 2019.

The sect is a registered religious charity and has been in Australia since the ’90s.

It has about 90 members in its Picton, Katoomba and Coledale communes and runs cafes in Sydney and the Blue Mountains.

The sect does not align itself with any denomination.

Members believe the Messiah will return if the church is restored to its original form in the Book of Acts – the first book in the new testament of the Bible.

Twelve Tribes has been guarded about its privacy and members are expected to live by a set of rigid guidelines which govern almost every aspect of their lives.

Communication with the outside world is largely forbidden and women are expected to be subservient to men and everyone must marry within the group.

What is Twelves Tribes?

The commune began in 1975 in Chattanooga, Tennessee, when former carnival showman Gene Spriggs broke away from the First Presbyterian Church after finding services were cancelled for the Super Bowl.

He and his wife Marsha earlier opened the first Yellow Deli a few years earlier and were living communally with a small group from 1972.

Twelve Tribes practices a hybrid of pre-Catholic Christianity and Judaism mixed with teachings by Spriggs.

The group’s stated aim is to bring about the return of Jesus – whom they refer to by the Hebrew name Yahshua – by reestablishing the 12 tribes of Israel.

Twelve Tribes practices a hybrid of pre-Catholic Christianity and Judaism mixed with teachings by its founder, Gene Spriggs

All members are forced to sell their possessions and give to proceeds to the sect and are assigned a Hebrew name discard their old ones. Spriggs himself is known as Yoneq.

These tribes would include 144,000 ‘perfect male children’, which accounts for the group’s obsessive and controversial child-rearing practices.

The Sabbath is observed in line with Jewish tradition, along with conservative dietary rules and abstinence from alcohol, tobacco, and drugs.

Birth control of any kind is banned, as is much modern medicine – they instead rely largely on homeopathy and ‘natural’ remedies.

Marriage outside the sect is forbidden and couples must go through a series of supervised talks to get to know each other. Only after marriage can they even kiss or hold hands.

These tribes would include 144,000 ‘perfect male children’, which accounts for the group’s obsessive and controversial child-rearing practices

Children aren’t allowed to play with toys, engage in make-believe, or any of the normal childhood activities, and must be supervised at all times.

They must be strictly obedient and are beaten with a 50cm rod for every infraction by any adult watching them, not just their parents.

All children are homeschooled and do not attend university as it is considered a waste of time and not a good environment.

Instead, children work in the community from a young age, sparking accusations of child labour.

Estée Lauder and other businesses cut ties with the organisation after finding children were involved in making their products.

The few boxes of pamphlets would be easily missed or glossed over by the vast majority of visitors

Members don’t vote and are not allowed to watch TV or any other media as ‘the crazy box robs your time and pollutes your soul’.

Twelve Tribes has 3,000 members and operates in the U.S., Canada, France, Spain, Argentina, Brazil, Germany and England, arriving in Australia in the early 1990s.

There are now about 120 members living in Balmoral House in Katoomba, Peppercorn Creek Farm near Picton, and a small number in Coledale, north of Wollongong.

Numerous businesses include a network of cafes in every country, all called the Yellow Deli or Common Ground, and bakeries, farms, and furniture, construction, and demolition businesses.

These are believed to be very profitable because none of the workers need to be paid.

Source: The Daily Telegraph

For the past week, NSW Police have been digging for human remains at two properties owned by the controversial Sydney Christian sect, the Twelve Tribes. The results have been grim.

Cydonee Mardon and Gillian McNally, The Sunday Telegraph

Exclusive: The remains of at least one baby have been found on a NSW property owned by members of controversial Christian sect, the Twelve Tribes, police sources have revealed.

Detectives found the remains in a shallow grave at the remote tract of land at Bigga in the NSW Southern Tablelands during a search on Wednesday afternoon.

Sources say it is too early to confirm whether the remains belong to one infant or two. It is understood the remains, which were in a ­coffin-like box structure, were found about 3pm.

The painstaking removal operation was delayed due to heavy rain and the fragility and age of the remains.

NSW Police have refused to comment officially, saying the “planned police operation” involving detectives from the Blue Mountains concluded yesterday.

“There are no further updates in relation to Strike Force Nanegai at this time,” police said in a statement.

Officers had been digging since Monday at the Tribe’s 78.5ha Bigga property and at its Peppercorn Creek farm in Picton in Sydney’s southwest, opposite its popular Common Ground Bakery. The search was suspended on Thursday.

NSW Police executed crime scene warrants at both properties on Monday as part of an investigation by Strike Force Nanegai into the high number of stillbirths and medical neglect within the community.

The raid comes after ­former member Rosemary Cruzado said her late-term stillborn baby was buried at the Bigga property. She ­believes her baby’s death could have been avoided if she had seen a doctor earlier in her pregnancy.

Ms Cruzado and other former members alleged the group’s lack of medical and prenatal care had contributed to the loss of multiple pregnancies in its communities, which consist of about 90 members living communally at the Picton farm, as well as properties in Katoomba and Coledale near Wollongong.

“I’d just love for them to find my baby so I could give him a proper burial,” she said. “And I’d love to see some accountability from the leaders, they really scared us away from using doctors and hospitals, it is not even an option.

“I would love to see ladies get proper pre-natal care ­because I really believe if I got proper pre-natal care, it could have been preventable. I’d like to see the (lack of) medical (care) come to light so they could change their ways.”

The Bigga site has no running water or electricity. Surrounded by thick bushland, the property was originally intended to hold large religious festivals for the community. Ex-members ­allege stillborn babies were disposed of on the Tribe’s properties without registration with NSW Health, a ­requirement of all births after 20 weeks.

The strict religious sect, which claims to live by the “First Testament”, shuns modern medicine.

It has ­repeatedly denied allegations of child abuse.

A gathering at the Picton property where members of the strict religious community live.

Police officers dig on a twelve tribes property near the NSW town of Picton. Picture: ABC

Rosemary Cruzado is haunted by the loss of her son who was born stillborn while she lived with the Twelve Tribes. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

Now for the first time a former leader has gone on the record.

Chen Czarnecki (formerly Scott Czarnecki) is still hesitant to call them a cult.

“I think you could use that word, I don’t normally. Sect is probably better- a little bit less emotional. But definitely high controlling,” he told A Current Affair.

Czarnecki has never spoken publicly before about the three decades he spent as a leader of the Australian arm of the Twelve Tribes.

He contacted A Current Affair after our investigation in October revealed the severe disciplinary measures enforced on children as young as six months of age.

“How did I feel about it? I thought it was great,” he said of his views of the group’s disciplinary methods.

However, the arrival of his own children saw a change of heart.

“Life takes on a different flavor and smacking your own little human being on the bed there … sounds different all of a sudden,” Czarnecki said.

“Everything changes when you have children.”

Czarnecki confirmed to A Current Affair that Twelve Tribes members were discouraged from seeking outside medical help, even in cases of serious illness.

“I know of a girl who almost died. And by the time they got her there (to hospital) and they got her blood transfusion, she was nearly gone,” he said.

“There were babies that were stillborn. There were babies that struggled to live, definitely, the whole gamut.

“And some of those things probably would have been preventable.

“That reluctance is dangerous. It takes you too close to the line. But that’s how we did it, we were all in.”

Czarnecki showed A Current Affair medical guides that he’d recently taken from the Twelve Tribes Peppercorn Creek Farm headquarters.

The guides provided instructions to members on how to treat a range of serious illnesses with herbs, including taking blended garlic and olive oil to treat childhood pneumonia, and taking B vitamins and dandelion in the onset of life-threatening pre-eclampsia in pregnant women.

The Twelve Tribes was started by former high school teacher and carnival showman Eugene Spriggs in Chattanooga, Tennessee, in the 1970s. Spriggs created the Twelve Tribes as a loose hybrid of Judaism and Christianity, preaching to his followers to live by the “First Testament”.

When members join they are baptised with Hebrew names, hand over their money and possessions, and live together in a commune.

The Australian arm of the tribe was formed in the early 90s, when Spriggs sent Czarnecki and another American – William Nunnally to set up the group in the Blue Mountains.

Czarnecki’s ex-wife decided to leave the Twelve Tribes with their children in 2009 as the intense disciplining of their children was too much for her. Czarnecki had his own criticisms of the inner workings of the group and decided to leave with them.

Czarnecki now lives in northern New South Wales but has had intermittent contact with the Twelve Tribes since his departure.

Today, members live in one of their two Sydney bases: a large heritage house in Katoomba, and a 45-acre property outside of Picton.

The group operates The Yellow Deli in Katoomba and The Common Ground Bakery in Picton. Czarnecki confirmed to A Current Affair that no workers in these venues received wages.

Source: Channel 9 News

Children ‘spanked 30 times a day’ in secretive sect, ex-member says

Eighteen years on from his time inside the Twelve Tribes religious sect, Matthew Klein is still scarred.

“They not only control your medical care, they control your food, when you get to see your family, they try to control when you make love to your wife, they try and control your children,” he told A Current Affair.

“Once you’ve been there a while, you realise that not everyone is equal. There are leaders and there’s a whole hierarchy within it. It’s very similar to Animal Farm.”

Klein, his wife Tysha, and their two children joined the Twelve Tribes in 1999, drawn to their communal lifestyle and strong faith.

The Twelve Tribes present themselves as a welcoming religious group, growing produce on their New South Wales properties, and selling food through their cafes. For Klein, it felt like a simple way of life.

In the first six months within the Australian arm of the group, Tysha gave birth to another son. A few weeks later, their baby began having breathing difficulties. The elders discouraged them from seeking outside medical help.

This was not the only practice that concerned Klein.

According to Klein, the Twelve Tribes child training manuals provide detailed instructions about severe disciplinary measures for children, starting as young as six months old.

“They would get spanked from morning and night,” he said.

“They would get spanked 20 to 30 times a day. Each one of them is six strikes on the hand with a thin rod.”

The Twelve Tribes was started by former high school teacher and carnival showman Eugene Spriggs in Chattanooga, Tennessee, in the 1970s. Spriggs created the Twelve Tribes as a loose hybrid of Judaism and Christianity, preaching to his followers to live by the “first testament”.

When members join, they’re baptised with Hebrew names, hand their money and possessions, and live together in a commune.

The Australian arm of the tribe was formed in the early 90s, when Spriggs sent two Americans to set up the group in the Blue Mountains – Scott Sczarnecki and William Nunnally.

Today members live in one of their two Sydney bases: bedroom heritage house in Katoomba, and a 45-acre property just outside of Picton.

The group operates The Yellow Deli in Katoomba and The Common Ground Bakery in Picton.

“They don’t pay wages, they don’t pay superannuation, they don’t pay insurances, they don’t pay anything. They don’t pay tax because apparently, they’re a church. And where all this money goes, I don’t know,” says Klein.

Children in the Twelve Tribes are put to work from a very young age. Klein’s now 23-year-old daughter Tessa remembers being sent out to work in a candle factory when she was five years old.

“Working with this boiling wax, like dipping into it making candles, like completely alone,” she tells A Current Affair.

Rosemary Cruzado left the Twelve Tribes in 2010 after nearly 14 years.

“I was brainwashed the whole time I was there … like I was unable to critically think of anything.”

Cruzado had two pregnancies during her time there. At 38 weeks during her last pregnancy, the baby stopped kicking and Rosemary experienced seizures.

The Australian leaders of the tribe did not want her to go to hospital. She recalls William Nunnally explicitly telling her “You can’t end up in hospital.”

Cruzado’s baby died in utero, and the baby was taken away immediately.

“They laid it so thick on us on both my husband and I, they said it was all our fault that god couldn’t really blessed us with a live baby because of our sin,” she said.

While he was living within the Twelve Tribes, Matthew Klein convinced himself that the fanatical religious group was not a cult.

Once he got out, he quickly changed his mind.  He’s hoping by speaking out, he will prevent others from joining.

“I think it’s my social duty to warn other people of what goes on in this place,” he said.

“It’s the kids who don’t have a choice and it’s just not on.”

A Current Affair has approached The Twelve Tribes for comment.

A Current Affair’s Alison Piotrowski looks at the Australian Twelve Tribes group and speaks to some of its former members. Subscribe here: Get full episodes here:

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• Or Mathias claims he was subjected to years of physical and psychological abuse
• Mr Mathias said his 18 years in the sect have left him permanently traumatised
• The now 26-year-old alleges child abuse is rampant within the communities
• Original member Andrew McLeod previously said there is no child abuse present

By Brittany Chain and Nic White For Daily Mail Australia

Published: 15:11 AEST, 9 September 2019 | Updated: 16:10 AEST, 9 September 2019

A man who spent the first 18 years of his life in a Twelve Tribes commune claims the ‘training methods’ used to discipline children still affect him almost a decade after he escaped.

Or Mathias claims he was subjected to years of physical and psychological abuse at the hands of the secretive sect.

He told The Sunday Telegraph he spent the first six years of his life living in a Brazilian commune with ‘strange men’ before finally moving to the Picton branch in south-west Sydney.

The now 26-year-old left Twelve Tribes eight years ago. Four of his five siblings and his mother have also left the sect.

Mr Mathias said while he keeps in contact with plenty of ex-members, most are too afraid to speak out.

Or Mathias claims he was subjected to years of physical and psychological abuse at the hands of the secretive sect

He said he is permanently scarred after he was allegedly abused as a child.

Mr Mathias claims he was beaten with a thin rod and forced to work from a young age. He was also given limited opportunities for an education.

The sect is very guarded about its privacy and members are expected to live by a set of rigid guidelines which govern almost every aspect of their lives.

Twelve Tribes shuns the use of conventional medicines or technologies, and communication with the outside world is largely forbidden.

Women are expected to be subservient to men and everyone must marry within the group.

Children are home-schooled and raised on the back of a 300-page manual which insists they are obedient, do not question their superiors, are forbidden from playing with toys or the make-believe and are to be spanked with a 50cm rod for any indiscretions.

Mr Mathias said he spent the first six years of his life in a Brazilian commune with ‘strange men’ before finally moving to the Picton branch in south-west Sydney (pictured)

Mr Mathias claims he watched an eight month old baby be disciplined during his time with the Picton sect because she cried at the dinner table.

According to Mr Mathias, any adult can administer discipline as long as the child is older than six months.

Andrew McLeod, who manages one of the sect’s many cafes in the Blue Mountains and is an original member of the Australian branch of the group, said allegations of child abuse and child labour were untrue.

‘We want our children to have a well-balanced life and what we do and our beliefs have somehow been taken out of context to portray us as a fundamentalist cult that bashes our children, which is just not true,’ he said.

‘It’s sad that so many people are gullible enough to believe what they believe without looking into it themselves.’

Mr McLeod instead encouraged people to visit the group at the cafe, Balmoral House, or the farm in Picton – the doors to which are always open – and even spend a few days getting to know them.

‘They can see there’s no horns, no cloaks and daggers, just some people with a genuine faith wanting to raise their children with purpose and purity and make an honest living and be hospitable,’ he said.

The father-of-five said children were indeed all home-schooled but no one working in the cafe was younger than the legal work age of 14 and nine months, and teenagers worked on Sundays or school holidays.

‘I raise [my children] strictly but honestly and openly and will admit when I’m wrong. That’s why they’re still here and haven’t run off on a motorbike to join a rock band,’ he said.

The group celebrate each morning and afternoon with rituals that include praying and dancing (pictured)

But Mr Mathias argues the unconventional disciplinary action did more harm than good in his childhood.

‘Long term, it has made me scared of messing up, or doing something that I think others wouldn’t like. So I am not who I really am, I am always living something that is ‘pleasing’ to others,’ he said.

He claims the sustained abuse he allegedly received during his formative years has shaped who he became as an adult.

Ultimately, even after leaving the sect, he still lives in fear that he made the wrong decision.

‘It really made things very hard, because I had no schooling, I had no support, I feared that I was going to suffer for the rest of my life and go to hell after I died because I left,’ he said.

‘Things that have hurt in the past cannot be remedied in the present. We’re talking about, mental and spiritual problems here, it’s not something money or anything else could do to help that hurt go away.’

Children are expected to help lighten the work load and pull their weight within the community

Clinical Psychologist Rudi Črnčec told the publication some psychologists would deem the punishments as ‘abusive’ by modern standards.

He said children within the communities are preferred to be in a constant ‘surrendered’ state rather than develop relationships with their parents, peers or community.

Dr Črnčec added that sustained physical punishments could lead to anxiety and detachment later in life and that children with learning or behavioural difficulties are the most likely to suffer.

Another couple who were formerly members of the Australian sect claim they were shunned due to their son’s bad behaviour.

Mark and Rose Ilich were members of Twelve Tribes for 13 years after meeting the group at the Newtown Festival, reported to be a fertile recruiting ground.

They said when people join the group they have to sell all their possessions – including houses and cars – and give the proceeds to the group.

Their clothes are replaced with conservative outfits and their lives become filled with long hours of work and chores in the self-sustaining community.

What is the Twelves Tribes?

The commune began in 1975 in Chattanooga, Tennessee, when former carnival showman Gene Spriggs broke away from the First Presbyterian Church after finding services were cancelled for the Super Bowl.

He and his wife Marsha earlier opened the first Yellow Deli a few years earlier and were living communally with a small group from 1972.

Twelve Tribes practices a hybrid of pre-Catholic Christianity and Judaism mixed with teachings by Spriggs.

The group’s stated aim is to bring about the return of Jesus – whom they refer to by the Hebrew name Yahshua – by reestablishing the 12 tribes of Israel.

+8

Twelve Tribes practices a hybrid of pre-Catholic Christianity and Judaism mixed with teachings by its founder, Gene Spriggs

All members are forced to sell their possessions and give to proceeds to the cult and are assigned a Hebrew name discard their old ones. Spriggs himself is known as Yoneq.

These tribes would include 144,000 ‘perfect male children’, which accounts for the group’s obsessive and controversial child-rearing practices.

The Sabbath is observed in line with Jewish tradition, along with conservative dietary rules and abstinence from alcohol, tobacco, and drugs.

Birth control of any kind is banned, as is much modern medicine – they instead rely largely on homeopathy and ‘natural’ remedies.

Marriage outside the sect is forbidden and couples must go through a series of supervised talks to get to know each other. Only after marriage can they even kiss or hold hands.

+8

These tribes would include 144,000 ‘perfect male children’, which accounts for the group’s obsessive and controversial child-rearing practices

Children aren’t allowed to play with toys, engage in make-believe, or any of the normal childhood activities, and must be supervised at all times.

They must be strictly obedient and are beaten with a 50cm rod for every infraction by any adult watching them, not just their parents.

All children are homeschooled and do not attend university as it is considered a waste of time and not a good environment.

Instead, children work in the community from a young age, sparking accusations of child labour.

Estée Lauder and other businesses cut ties with the organisation after finding children were involved in making their products.

+8

The few boxes of pamphlets would be easily missed or glossed over by the vast majority of visitors

Members don’t vote and are not allowed to watch TV or any other media as ‘the crazy box robs your time and pollutes your soul’.

Twelve Tribes has 3,000 members and operates in the U.S., Canada, France, Spain, Argentina, Brazil, Germany and England, arriving in Australia in the early 1990s.

There are now about 120 members living in Balmoral House in Katoomba, Peppercorn Creek Farm near Picton, and a small number in Coledale, north of Wollongong.

Numerous businesses include a network of cafes in every country, all called the Yellow Deli or Common Ground, and bakeries, farms, and furniture, construction, and demolition businesses.

These are believed to be very profitable because none of the workers need to be paid.

Mr Ilich claimed he worked 15 or even 20 hours a day on the farm or at one of the cult’s many businesses – from bakeries to furniture making and the Yellow Deli Cafe in Katoomba.

‘Once I helped them carry $40,000 in cash out of the Easter Show. But I never saw a cent,’ he told the Sydney Morning Herald years after escaping.

The couple allege they were constantly told the outside world was evil and their sin needed to be purged from their lives.

‘Leaving is not an option. You have to understand how brainwashed you become. You lose the ability to think critically,’ Ms Ilich said.

The couple’s son Daniel was considered rebellious, which they claim eventually led to them being ostracised as ‘bad parents’.

Ms Ilich said a senior member told her it was ‘God’s kindness’ that her baby was stillborn because it would be ‘evil’ to give a baby parents like them.

Authorities have intervened in the past. In 1984 American police raided the group’s base in Vermont and took 113 children into care, but they were later released when the raid was ruled unconstitutional.

The in 2013 German police seized 40 children secretly recorded video showed some being beaten, but they were also returned.

Former members and anti-cult groups claim the group’s activities have been repeatedly reported to Australian authorities, but no action has been taken.

What the vast majority of Yellow Deli customers don’t know is the cafe is run by a religious sect and the flannel-clad waiters serving artisanal sandwiches and green tea are all members

Gillian McNally, The Sunday Telegraph

Members must relinquish all properties, possessions, wealth and “sovereignty” on joining to become “true disciples”, and live like members of the early Church.

The group has been dogged by allegations of child beating and child labour abuses overseas, one of the most high profile cases in Germany 2013, when a documentary showed children in a local branch being beaten so badly, the government removed them.

The Twelve Tribes has repeatedly denied allegations of child abuse and child labour and say their child-raising practices are not harmful.

Or Mathias, 26, who was raised in the Twelve Tribes and alleges he was beaten daily as part of the group’s strict child rearing doctrine, said it was not a charity and should be investigated.

“They say they are so they don’t have to pay taxes, and they don’t have to pay employees,” Mr Mathias said. “What they do is want is for others to donate to them in order to continue living their beliefs.”

He said visitors were being misled into believing the community was a “utopia” of communal life but “once a visitor decides to join and pass all their possessions to the Twelve Tribes that’s when they start to see the real life they have come into”.

“Then it’s too late. They’re broke and are trapped with no way out.”

Mr Mathias, who has lived in 10 of the Tribes’ communities including six years at Picton, alleges he and other children received harsh corporal punishment daily in the Tribes.

He said children received poor education, were frequently sent to work and “everyone has to work very long hours and are constantly being pushed to get more done”.

In Australia, about 90 members live communally in Twelve Tribes properties at Picton, Katoomba and Coledale near Wollongong, spending the bulk of their time working as volunteers in its commercial enterprises.

They live in accommodation forming part of the Tribes’ property portfolio, including Balmoral House in Katoomba and Peppercorn Creek Farm in Picton, where a large Georgian-style home is under construction.

On its website, Twelve Tribes states it “doesn’t use religious tax exemptions to avoid paying tax” but, in Australia, it claims tax exemptions as a charity for advancing religion.

Its holding company, The Community Apostolic Order, lists assets worth $5.64 million and seven businesses including the popular Yellow Deli cafe in Katoomba and Common Ground bakery in Picton, all of which receive GST concession, fringe benefit tax rebate and income tax exemption.

 According to figures lodged with the Australian Charities and Not For Profit Commission (ACNC), its businesses produced an annual trading income of $3 million in 2015 — half of that declared as profit, although in 2017 its declared income plunged to $245,000.

There were no details in the accounts to explain the change.

Members are not permitted to accumulate private wealth but documents cited by The Sunday Telegraph show some still hold assets in their name, including a 78.5ha tract of land near Bigga in NSW.

The Yellow Deli building at 214 Katoomba St, purchased for $1.5 million in 2004, is owned by Granite Investments, of which several members are shareholders.

Despite the religious charity’s assets and income, the six ex-members we spoke to said there was no financial accountability to members inside, and they had little or no access to money.

None recouped any assets or funds on leaving other than one, and only after threatening legal action. They received no pay, superannuation or financial support.

Rosemary Cruzado, who lived with the Twelve Tribes for 14 years and has been cut off from her daughter and four grandchildren who remain inside, said “common members” of the community had to “beg leaders” for basic things like shoes, clothes and doctor visits.

At the same time, she alleged leaders have access to cars, cash, credit cards, even holidays.

“There’s a lot of medical neglect, my kids never had dental check-ups, I never had dental check-ups. You had to get really bad so that you were in agony to go to the dentist,” Mrs Cruzado said.

“On a bigger scale, I lost a baby there and I believe that’s because I didn’t have enough resources to go and see a proper specialist to actually tell me what was going on.”

She said home schooling of children was “fundamentalist”, with work emphasized over study and her son was removed from education at 13 to work six days in the Tribe’s bakery.

“The point of education is for them to become a member, it’s not for them to know their rights in society, how they can participate in society,” she said.

Ros Hodgkins of the Cult Information and Support Group, which has supported a number of ex-members, said people who joined the group were enticed by the ideal of living a true Christian life in a sustainable community.

But she said many found themselves trapped in a group that dictated every aspect of their lives, from what they ate to how they parented, with no financial means to leave.

“It’s very painful once they come out and they realise this was a scam in a way, to get workers for their business, because it is a business,” Ms Hodgkins said.

She said there was a lack of political will to look at groups like the Twelve Tribes because of notions of religious freedom “but that’s not an excuse”.

“It goes against the grain of what spirituality is from the Christian perspective,” she said.

As a religious charity, the Twelve Tribes can legally raise revenue only to benefit members but it must show it is meeting or intending to meet purposes outlined in its governing document, created in 1995 and lodged with the ACNC in 2012.

That document states it will care for members’ wellbeing, undertake activities such as prison ministries and housing the homeless, assist charities with similar purposes and provide counselling ministries for people with emotional, psychological and “social disabilities”.

Locals who spoke to The Sunday Telegraph in Katoomba could cite no examples of charitable works by the group and several business owners said it was tough competing with a business not required to pay wages, tax, rent or super.

A spokesman for the ACNC said due to the secrecy provisions in the ACNC Act, they could not disclose if the commission had received any complaints, or was investigating the charity.

“Allegations of a charity causing harm to its beneficiaries would be of concern to the ACNC. We encourage people who think a charity is not acting appropriately to report it to the ACNC.”

The Sunday Telegraph contacted the Twelve Tribes several times and left a list of questions on Tuesday however at the time of publication the community had not responded.

The group states on its website that spanking is used on children, however it is not abusive, that leaders do not live off the labour of members and the group does not follow anti-social or oppressive rules.

Other episodes in the series

Chapter 1

Life inside the Twelve Tribes

Chapter 2

Escaping hell

Chapter 3

Paying the price