School wants sex-accused named

A top primary school which employs a teacher accused of grooming and paying boys for sex acts will apply to the court to have the man's name suppression lifted.

A lawyer for the decile-10 school on Auckland's North Shore, Tim Allan, last night said the school had been hamstrung by the interim suppression order and was upset that it cast unfair suspicion on "great, hardworking male teachers who have done nothing wrong".

The school would like nothing more than to out the accused to the school community and would look into whether it had jurisdiction to try to have it lifted as soon as possible, he said.

"Without wanting to be critical of the judge... it's put the school in a very difficult position."

He also hit back at criticism from the Teachers Council that it failed to fulfil is obligations to advise the watchdog that a teacher had been arrested on sex charges. The school had been moving as quickly as possible to act on the allegations, Allan said.

The Teachers Council maintained last night it had still not been officially advised and was unable to suspend the man's practising certificate.

The middle-aged teacher – who has name suppression but is a relative of a high-profile New Zealander – appeared in the North Shore District Court on Friday to face six charges relating to indecent acts on two boys, aged 16. He entered no plea and was bailed to reappear next month.

Police allege, between 2005 and September last year, the man met the two complainants at a North Shore supermarket and arranged for them to travel with him to carry out indecent acts on him.

The school's principal refused to be interviewed about the allegations and issued a short statement saying the school was "shocked". "We are extremely concerned and we are taking it very seriously. We request that the media respect our young people at this extremely busy point in the school calendar."

The school principal was initially notified only 24 hours before the teacher's court appearance that he was suspected of sex crimes. "As you would expect, the board has immediately notified the Ministry of Education and other appropriate parties... convened an urgent board meeting Friday afternoon, and has made some urgent interim decisions."

They could not write to parents of the school to let them know what those decisions were or if the man had been stood down because of the suppression order, Allan said.

Detective Sergeant Steve Brewer, head of North Shore's child abuse team, said the man's bail conditions stated he could not associate with people under the age of 16. He was also forbidden from using the internet and accessing social networking websites.

The teacher was not home yesterday, but relatives told the Star-Times the man was single and did not have children.

A neighbour said the teacher spent a lot of time on his cellphone during the early hours of the morning. "You wake up at 2am and he is in the backyard talking on his cellphone. There have been times I have seen him peeking through our fence, quite strange."

The teacher was told he had 14 days to file an application for interim name suppression to be permanent.

Whaleoil blogger Cameron Slater, currently before the courts facing charges of revealing the names of sex offenders who have had their identities masked by judges, said the latest case was another example of how suppression laws were not working.

Slater told the Star-Times the public should know the identity of the accused so they could monitor his interaction with young people while the case moves through the courts.

Earlier this month Slater formed the lobby group S.H.A.M.E (Suppression Helps Abusers Make Excuses) and won the backing of mayors John Banks and Michael Laws.

A spokeswoman for the prominent Kiwi related to the teacher declined to comment. The celebrity could not be reached.

jonathan.marshall@star-times.co.nz

- © Fairfax NZ News