When Russell Stewart was in the dock admitting to causing the death of his wife, daughter and a family friend, members of the Exclusive Brethren church packed the public gallery.

The community was, according to one report, walking at his side as he dealt with the grief and guilt of crashing his ute  near Dargaville, on New Zealand's North Island, after an afternoon of drinking alcohol at Baylys Beach.

His lawyers had left no stone unturned in scouring the earth for experts in the fields of neuroscience, car crashes and pathology to test the Crown's case that he had driven drunk, and carelessly, before crashing into a tree.

The most serious charges were dropped. Stewart eventually pleaded guilty to careless driving causing death in relation to the deaths of Susanna, 48, and Sadie Stewart, 16, and James Wearmouth, 18 and was given a four month sentence of community detention.

They keep themselves apart because they believe that "it is impossible for God to fully bless and use his children who are in compromise or complicity with evil".