RELATED CONTENT: William Kamm - Little Pebble only days from freedom
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Followers of self-professed prophet William Kamm would not comment on the pending release of their leader, also known as The Little Pebble, after serving almost 10 years in jail for sex offences.
The gated compound in bush at Tapitallee now seems deserted compared to just a few years ago.
Some dwellings have windows boarded up, others appear to have been left in a hurry, dust-covered cars without numberplates sit on soft tyres, grass grows up around religious statues.
It’s a foreboding sight in the context of a high barbed-wire fence.
It could almost pass for a scene from the post-apocalyptic zombie world on the TV series The Walking Dead.
However a number of the dwellings were clearly still considered home.
One resident said there was nowhere near the number of people living in the compound as there once had been.
Another resident said those who chose to stay continued to follow their faith, and Kamm’s conviction did not change their religion.
The Order of Saint Charbel continued to operate from its Shoalhaven headquarters and still had followers.
“He can’t come here for 11 months so nothing will change for us. There is nothing to say. You’ll have to speak with him about it,” a resident said.
The man was unhappy with how the media had covered the events that unfolded, but said everyone was entitled to their own beliefs.
At the ‘office’, a tin shed with security-grilles on the windows, Bishop Malcolm Broussard would not be drawn out or comment on Kamm’s release, other than to say he would not speak on the issue.
Kamm was jailed for 10 years for five counts of sexual intercourse with a minor by a person in authority, four counts of aggravated indecent assault against a minor and one count of aggravated indecent assault.
His total sentence is set to expire in October 2015. However he is expected to be released in the next few days. He will not be permitted to frequent the Shoalhaven for 11 months after his release.