Graham Capill
| Graham Capill | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1959 (age 57–58) Africa |
| Nationality | New Zealand |
| Known for | Sex crimes, political party leader |
Graham John Capill (born 1959) is a former New Zealand Christian leader and politician. He served as the first leader of the now-defunct Christian Heritage Party, stepping down in 2003. In 2005 he was convicted of multiple sexual offences against girls under 12 years of age and sentenced to nine years imprisonment. He was released on parole in August 2011, having served six years of that sentence.
Capill was born in western Africa, his parents being Christian missionaries. Most of his youth was spent in New Zealand, mainly in the city of Christchurch. He was educated at Middleton Grange School, a large evangelical Protestant school in that city, where his father, Donald Capill, was vice-principal for most of the 1970s, and which his brothers, David, Murray and Timothy, also attended.
Capill went to work in the aviation industry, and qualified as a pilot and an avionics engineer. Later, Capill decided to become a minister, and studied towards a Bachelor of Divinity degree at the Reformed Theological College in Geelong, Australia. He gained his degree in 1986. He returned to New Zealand to complete an internship at Wellington, and became a minister of the Reformed Church of Dunedin in 1988. By June 1998 he was attending an Anglican church in Christchurch, but described himself as Presbyterian by conviction. Capill gained a law degree from the University of Canterbury in 1997.
Capill and his wife Judith have ten children.
The Christian Heritage Party, founded in 1989, held its first convention in 1990. Capill was appointed the new party's leader in June of that year. He remained leader of the party through five elections, but the party failed to win any seats. Capill announced his retirement shortly after the 2002 general election, and stepped down in 2003. He was succeeded as party leader by Ewen McQueen. In November 2004 Capill resigned from the Christian Heritage citing differences of opinion over the party's new direction since his retirement.
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