Alice Springs pastor Terry Medling’s message to alleged victim: ‘Jesus will pay back’
An Alice Springs pastor accused of the aggravated physical assault of a 13-year-old Aboriginal girl told her there would be ‘pay back’ from Jesus over the charge.
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An Alice Springs pastor accused of the aggravated physical assault of a 13-year-old Aboriginal girl told her there would be “payback” from Jesus over the charge.
Terry Medling’s online messages to the girl have been revealed by a woman close to her, who has questioned why he was allowed to stay in contact with the teenager after he was charged with assaulting her.
“He’s trying to scare her. He’s using the things she’s scared of more than anything. Jesus and God are very important to her,” the woman alleged.
The woman has also revealed the events leading up to the charge, saying she saw the pastor yank the girl out of a car “like he owned her”, and that the girl screamed at a family member “Why do you always let him do this?”
The self-declared longest-serving missionary in Alice Springs, Mr Medling was in July served by police with a notice to appear in court in September on a charge of aggravated physical assault of the girl.
Other children have separately alleged to The Australian that the 73-year-old non-denominational pastor hit or was physically rough with them.
He has also been the subject of reports to Northern Territory police and the Territory Families department from staff at the local Yipirinya School. He denies wrongdoing and says he has an active Ochre Card allowing him to work with children.
A woman who helps look after and is close to the teenager at the centre of the criminal charge said she was at the Aboriginal town camp known as Old Timers with the girl in February last year when Mr Medling arrived.
“Her family lived … under tarpaulins, homeless,” she said.
“We were sitting there and this fellow turned up, started setting up a church, stuck a cross in the sand, had a bus full of people.
“He yelled out to us with a microphone, ‘What are youse f..king doing? Just gonna f..king sit there. Or are you f..king coming over here or what?”
“He just swore at them, ‘What the f..k are you doing sitting there?’ I was the only one that seemed to notice. They all ignored him.”
The woman “went over and listened to his service for a while, and it was uncomfortable … His sermon was like ‘You people are all sinners’.”
As the church service continued, a group of children, including the teenage girl, asked to go to McDonald’s. “So I took the three kids and their grandmother. We got back, the church service was just finishing, he had all the other people in the van.
“As we pulled up, he ran over to the car, opened the back door, and just grabbed (the girl) by the arm and started dragging her out of my car. She started kicking and screaming. The other two kids jumped out of the car and ran away to their mum. She kind of kicked him off but then she … started slapping her grandmother, saying ‘Why do you let him do this? Why do you always let him do this? You never do anything. You never stop him. I hate you. I hate you. I hate you.’ ”
When police served Mr Medling with the notice to appear in court, the nominated offence date was the same as the church service incident.
“I was kind of stunned. He acts like he owns her. Her whole entire family was there, and he acted like he had that right to just drag her from my car,” the woman said.
After Mr Medling was charged, the girl, now 15, posted on Facebook that she didn’t call police and that he better not blame her.
“So what are you getting mad for?” she wrote, tagging Mr Medling’s name.
In messages seen by The Australian, on the day Mr Medling was charged the girl asked him what happened. “Nothing that GOD can’t fix. Jesus will pay back,” he replied at 11.29pm.
“I have to Go to court for Growling and hitting you,” he added at 11.40pm.
The woman who is close to the girl said: “She is … frightened of what he may say to her or do to her family.”
Mr Medling, who calls himself an “outback evangelist”, told The Australian on Sunday: “All these accusations are false. I never use payback tactics. I leave it up to God to deal with the matter. My heart is full of love for our First Nations people. I have spent 50 years serving them.”
NT police would not comment on Sunday on whether Mr Medling was allowed to remain in contact with the girl after being charged. A spokeswoman also declined to say whether Mr Medling had an active Ochre Card.
“As the matter is now before the court, we are unable to provide any further comment,” she said.
Other children have described to The Australian instances of Mr Medling allegedly striking out with a wooden spoon or “slapping” them. Mr Medling has said he only tapped children lightly on the hand with the wooden spoon when they misbehaved on his church bus.
Know more about this story? Contact David Murray on murrayd@theaustralian.com.au
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