Hutt Valley District Court judge Arthur Tompkins said Jacob Semeri, from the Oasis of Life church in Naenae, had been abusing the girls while fulfilling the duties of a man of high standing in his community.
"He was living a life of hypocrisy."
According to a report on Stuff.co, Semeri was jailed on Wednesday for 16 months after pleading guilty to two representative charges of indecent assault of girls aged between 12 and 14.
Both girls had been living at his home and were under his care at different times between 1995 and 2013.
