Students desert cult school

Illawara Mercury, Australia/October 24, 2005
By Megan Levy

The future of a primary school operating within the confines of a Nowra doomsday cult is under a cloud after its leader, William Kamm, was jailed for sexually assaulting a young girl.

The St Joseph's School board is expected to meet soon to discuss whether the school will remain open next year.

The NSW Board of Studies has been told the principal, David Williams, will soon resign, and a significant number of students are expected to leave. The 31-student school is in the high-security Order of St Charbel compound at Cambewarra, however Kamm followers maintain he holds no position in the school.

Kamm, known as Little Pebble, was sentenced on October 14 to a maximum of five years' jail for sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl in the religious community whom he had taken as his "mystical wife".

He told the girl she had been selected by the Virgin Mary to spawn a new race when the world ended.