Reg Piesse
At first, the passing of Reginald Piesse was not treated as anything out of the ordinary - certainly in terms of what his three children were told. Anthony Piesse, Reg’s son was not to learn of the full circumstances of his father’s death until the inquest.
Anthony had left the Exclusive Brethren many years before and upon hearing of the death of his father, naturally attempted to discover the funeral arrangements so that he could pay his last respects. A newspaper report at the time hints at the difficulties Anthony faced in such a normal desire:
“I had some difficulty finding out about the funeral arrangements.”
“I went to the cemetery but kept away from my mother and relatives with the Brethren.”
“It would have caused trouble if I had approached my family.”
- NZ Truth, January 1984
As an ex-member of the Exclusive Brethren, Anthony Piesse had been cut off from all normal contact with his family for 13 years at the time of his father’s death. In those situations, it is normal for ex-members to not hear of a loved-ones death until after the event and horrifyingly, sometimes the Exclusive Brethren do not inform ex-members until after the funeral has taken place.
As the inquest progressed, Anthony Piesse learned with mounting horror of the apparant suicide of his father.
Exclusive Brethren sect member Reginald George Piesse gassed himself to death last October.
In broad daylight, Mr Piesse, 64, put a bag over his head and inhaled deadly exhaust fumes from his car, parked with the engine running in the driveway of his tidy home at 229 Cranford Street, Christchurch.
At an inquest last month into Mr Piesse’s death, little mention, if any, was made of his involvement with the Exclusive Brethren.
Police say they are not aware of any note left by Mr Piesse.
- NZ Truth, January 1984
One can only imagine hearing of such details about the death of a father from a public hearing.
“Since I’ve been out of the Brethren for the last 13 years, contact with my mother and father has been almost non-existent.” said Mr Piesse.
“I didn’t really know what had happened to my father until after the inquest. They (the Brethren) didn’t tell me. It came as a shock to find out.”
- NZ Truth, January 1984
Anthony found he had a number of questions. There was the matter of a missing suicide note certainly, but there was also the fact that his father was simply not the kind of man who would do such a thing.
“he was an outgoing, friendly man who was good to get on with.”
One former sect member described him as “the last man you would expect to commit suicide.”
- NZ Truth, January 1984
Reg Piesse was known to have suffered from a nervous breakdown several years before, but to those who knew him, his death came as a complete shock. There were enough unanswered questions that Anthony decided to publicise his efforts to find out more information.
No indication has been given that Mr Piesse might have been troubled by anything.
No light has been thrown as to why, on October 14 last year, he waited until his wife had gone out before he took his own life.
But now Mr Priesse’s son, Anthony, wants to know why his father died.
“I want to know the circumstances surrounding my father’s suicide.” Anthony Piesse told Truth from Palmerston North.
Anthony - who, with his brother Craig and a sister, left the Exclusive Brethren some years ago - said he knew of no reason why his father should kill himself.
- NZ Truth, January 1984
The wall of silence that the Exclusive Brethren maintain in such matters might possibly hint at why no suicide note was ever recovered, but it certainly had the effect of making Anthony’s task almost impossibly difficult.
“You know how difficult it is to get any information from the Brethren.” he said.
- NZ Truth, January 1984
Anthony enlisted help from members of the ex-Exclusive Brethren community, who in the days before the Internet managed to form small localised groups to help support each other. One such was a man called Arthur Townshend, who although at the time in 1983 was already in his 60’s, he took the matter straight to the top - to D.F. Quigley, a Member of New Zealand Parliament. We wish Mr. Townshend were still with us - he possessed a truly crusading spirit.
Mr Townshend wrote:
“Reg Piesse was also uncle to Bevan Malcom who committed suicide in the same fashion in 1980 in Timaru. Mr. Malcon Green (now a District Court Judge) submitted several pages of depositions at the Timaru inquest, speaking of Sect Coercions, Abductions, Pressures, etc, that Mr. Green considered resulted in Bevan Malcom’s suicide. Reg Piesse knew the details of these sect activities intimately. They resulted in Bevan Malcom’s wife Sarah and Eight children being abducted and harboured by the Sect in Christchurch where Reg Piesse lived.”
- Arthur Benjamin Townshed, Dec 5th, 1983
Mr Townshend continued his research and in early 1984 he wrote:
What the Christchurch Police did not comment upon was the close blood link relationship between Bevan Malcom of Timaru and Reg Piesse of Christchurch and the fact that they are both lifetime members of this Sect.
No mention is made in the inquest depositions of the following significant matters:
(a) Deceased’s membership of the Sect.
(b) The “friend’s” funeral the previous day being that of a deceased Sect member, conducted in the customary “private” fashion behind closed doors, from the Sect’s premises in McFadden’s Rd., Christchurch.
(c) It being at this funeral service that, according to Brian Suckling’s inquest deposition “I last saw the deceased alive at about 12:30p.m. on Thursday 13th October 1983, and on that occasion he appeared to be in good health.”
(d) Any possible suicide note; or the very recent recipt by several leaders in Christchurch including Brian Suckling (his brother-in-law) of a letter of international legal implications which exposed some evil doctrines and practices in the Sect as affecting me personally and my wife …
- Arthur Benjamin Townshed, Dec 5th, 1983
As we read these words now some 25 years later, we too ask the same questions. Many more lives have been lost since then. Some are shown here, others are being researched by members of this community. We feel it is our duty to continue to ask questions and present as much evidence that we can accumulate.
There is something seriously wrong when people take their own lives, no matter the circumstances. For normally happy people to take their own lives because of the edicts and pressures of a cult should generate the highest possible alarm in society.
“All cases are tragic and one death is always one too many.”
- The Exclusive Brethren, December 19th, 2007
There are many many more than “one”.
“As experts have made clear, there is no one answer to the enigma which is suicide. “
- The Exclusive Brethren, December 19th, 2007
There is indeed an answer!
The Exclusive Brethren must immediately cease their evil practice of separating family members and start obeying the Holy Scripture that they profess to follow. There is no “enigma” in the minds of those who read these stories.
All these stories and case studies have one aspect and contributing factor in common:
The Exclusive Brethren doctrine of Separation.
