One of the six plaintiffs in the Gloriavale employment case says she was called a "slut" and a "whore" after choosing a partner in the community before the leaders chose one for her.
Crystal Loyal fell in love with her husband while in the Gloriavale community. But she was called into a meeting with the leaders and humiliated.
As soon as Loyal started her evidence in court on Wednesday, she had to stop as the memories of Gloriavale were too much.
"I wasn't living, I was surviving every day."
Loyal said she started working in the community from five years old and left school at 14 when the heavy workload started with barely any days off.
"We had to get up at 3 to 3:30 in the morning once a week, and then the other mornings were 5 or 6am."
The mother of four said the older men were often inappropriate in the community and recalls serving at now leader Howard Temple's table when she was around eight years old.
"He'd put his arm around your waist, kiss your neck and touch your bum. A lot of the older men thought this was their right with the young girls. He did this to all the girls."
Loyal said the pressure to get married was enormous and no one had a choice - the leaders chose their partners.
She told the court she didn't want to be matched because she had fallen in love with Isaac who is now her husband, and because they had a relationship that led to pre-marital sex, it forced the leaders to marry them.
But first, she was called into a humiliating meeting with the shepherds and servants about her relationship.
"They used words like 'whore' and 'slut' to describe me. They kept telling me it was my fault and I 'didn't have downcast eyes' and 'he was only going for me because I was easy'," Loyal said.
Gloriavale's lawyer Phillip Skelton suggested her memories of working young were wrong.
After she left the religious community with her husband, Loyal couldn't believe he got paid for working and had days off or the difference with her babies born outside, because in Gloriavale she was sent back to work when her baby was one week old.
"It was just amazing to be able to hold her whenever I liked," Loyal said.
After six weeks on the outside, she finally felt free so she and her husband set up a bonfire and burnt all their Gloriavale clothing.
