Cult leader William Kamm and wife groomed young girl for a decade, Sydney court told

William Kamm, also known as ‘Little Pebble’, outside court in Sydney, where he is accused of grooming a young girl. Photograph: Bianca de Marchi/AAP View image in fullscreen William Kamm, also known as ‘Little Pebble’, outside court in Sydney, where he is accused of grooming a young girl. Photograph: Bianca de Marchi/AAP Cult leader William Kamm and wife groomed young girl for a decade, Sydney court told The 76-year-old allegedly ordered he should have 12 wives to ‘repopulate’ the world. He and his wife deny the charges Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast The leader of a cult and his wife allegedly groomed a young girl over a decade so she could bear 45 of his children in a post-apocalyptic world. William Kamm, also known as “Little Pebble”, was the leader of the Order of Saint Charbel, a religious cult run from a property on the New South Wales south coast. The 76-year-old saw himself as a pope, visionary and prophet who sent messages from Jesus Christ and the Virgin Mary to his followers. He and his 60-year-old wife, Sandra Susan Mathison, faced a judge-alone trial at Sydney’s Downing Centre district court, which commenced on Tuesday. They have pleaded not guilty to jointly grooming the girl between 2010 and 2020 while she was aged between six and 16. Kamm has also denied inciting the girl to commit an indecent act and twice breaching his extended supervision orders by contacting her. The woman – who cannot be legally identified – said she understood she was to be Kamm’s wife even when she was as young as six years old. “His role was to try to get us to do God’s will,” she testified. Sign up for the Breaking News Australia email The crown prosecutor, Andrew Norrie, told the court Kamm ordered he have 12 wives, known as “queens”, and other women referred to as “princesses” who were chosen by the Virgin Mary. These women were on a “mission from God” to become impregnated and repopulate a new era of society after natural disasters destroyed the world, leaving Kamm and his followers behind, the court was told. At first, the girl was not allowed to speak to the cult leader directly by phone as he was in jail but was instead referred to using code words, the prosecutor told the court. “Hi, my darling, I can’t wait to see you to start this beautiful mission together,” Kamm allegedly said during a call to the girl when she was six. When she was seven, she agreed to be “spiritually married” to Kamm, Norrie said. Mathison allegedly said she could not be with other boys and she had to keep her “marriage” with Kamm a secret as the devil would try to stop it. During a call in October 2013, the cult leader allegedly said the then nine-year-old should put on her running shoes so he could chase her. It is alleged he also said he wanted to lock her in a closet to keep her for himself. When the girl told Mathison she was uncomfortable, she was allegedly told Kamm did not have any dirty thoughts and he was only doing God’s will. The pair