A former Gloriavale member told the inquest into the death of a young member in 2018 that the 20-year-old felt unhappy in the Christian community.
Sincere Standtrue died in Christchurch Hospital 10 days after he was found unconscious in the Gloriavale paint shop where he worked.
An inquest is being held in Greymouth to determine the cause and circumstances of his death, including whether he was self-inflicted.
On Friday, the court heard from Clem Ready, who was a member of the Christian community for about 40 years before leaving in late 2018.
Ready said he spent most of his time with Standtrue in early 2018, when they were both working on the construction of a new school.
During this project, he saw firsthand how Standtrue was treated by others, which worried him, he said.
“I think he was at the bottom of the hierarchy of his painting team. I noticed that whenever I asked Sincere a direct question in front of his colleagues, someone else would always answer before he could,” Ready said.
“It seemed like Sincere was drowned out or overlooked and no one on the team showed him much respect.”
Ready believed that Standtrue was only treated well by his immediate family members at Gloriavale.
This was disputed by Gloriavale's attorney, Isaac Cummings, who convinced Ready that other members of the community had shown Standtrue respect, including friends and colleagues.
During the investigation, members of Gloriavale who knew Standtrue from work and school were previously interviewed.
Ready said he was “very upset” when he learned Standtrue was found unresponsive in the community paint store on Oct. 23, 2018.
“The next morning we were told that there had been an accident, that Sincere would recover and that everything would be fine. I didn't believe it at all, I thought it was complete nonsense, and it turned out to be true.
“Overall… it looked like he was killed by the community.”
During the investigation, Standtrue's sister, Rose, was also interviewed, who said her brother was often isolated, shamed and bullied at Gloriavale.
Rose Standtrue said several Gloriavale members and executives bullied her brother.
“As soon as [I was told Sincere was found unresponsive]“I immediately thought someone had done this to him because he had been bullied all his life,” she said.
During the investigation, one of Gloriavale's leaders, Peter Righteous, was also previously interviewed. He said he had never seen any serious bullying from Standtrue and that he would have done something about it if he had.
During Cummings' cross-examination, Ready was asked about the extent to which he had personally witnessed Standtrue being bullied.
Ready said he did not experience Standtrue's entire life and that he based some of his evidence on what he heard from others.
But he said that from what he observed and understood, Standtrue lived a miserable life and that many people contributed to that.
On Friday the court also heard from Nathanael Constant, from Gloriavale, who said he was like a father figure to Standtrue.
He said Standtrue was a cheerful and helpful person, but that he had difficulty controlling his temper and was easily provoked.
According to Constant, it may be in Standtrue's nature to do things impulsively without thinking about the danger or the consequences.
Rose Standtrue previously told the inquest that her brother had been sent to the men's room because of his bad mood a few months before his death.
She said people in Gloriavale were not allowed to leave their family's room until they were married, unless they were sent to live elsewhere as punishment.
When questioned about this, Constant admitted that it was not often that someone was sent to the men's toilet and that it was seen as something of a disgrace.
The investigation is still ongoing.