School principal molested students

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Suspended Hato Paora College principal Elvis Dobson Shepherd has been found guilty of sexually abusing students at an Auckland school in the early 1990s.

Shepherd can finally be named after all suppression orders were lifted last night when a High Court jury delivered its verdict after deliberating for less than five hours.

The sexual encounters between Shepherd and two teenage boys occurred while he was teaching and living at Hato Petera College, a Maori Catholic boarding school on the North Shore.

The 49-year-old, who identifies as bisexual, was also a student at the school before returning to teach te reo Maori in an experimental total immersion unit in 1989.

The first sexual encounter occurred in March 1990 after an annual gala day and disco.

The 16-year-old boy, who had been asked to leave after stealing, got drunk and stoned and fell asleep on a rugby field as the disco went on into the night.

Shepherd offered him a place to crash and after dropping people home in a van the pair ended up in an office, on a mattress in the dark. While the boy was sleeping Shepherd began performing oral sex on the boy and did another indecent act.

The 1994 sexual encounter involved the 17-year-old boy going to see Shepherd for help with te reo.

Shepherd was a dorm master but teaching at another school at the time.

The boy sat in a chair, Shepherd began massaging him before wafting something under his nose as he lay on the bed, making him feel lethargic. He then forced the boy to perform oral sex on him. The victims came forward after a decade of burying the memories.

In 2001 the first victim laid a complaint while he was an inmate at Manawatu Prison after seeing Shepherd on television. The second victim also saw Shepherd on television and came forward.

Neither victim can be named for legal reasons.

Shepherd, also known as Tihirau, gained employment at Hato Paora in Feilding, and became principal in 2002 after the school had been alerted to the allegations. In 2007 two students from Hato Paora came forward with allegations of sexual abuse, which had allegedly occurred that year. In August that year the Manawatu Standard was anonymously told that the Ministry of Education was investigating Shepherd.

In November 2007 the Standard revealed that the ministry knew about the allegations but did not instruct Hato Paora to contact police.

An Official Information Act request about ministry information on Shepherd was released in December 2008, six months after it was requested. Shepherd was arrested and charged in November 2007 and was suspended from his post.

He denied all counts of sexual abuse and was granted name suppression. A jury could not reach a verdict on two occasions on the charges relating to the Hato Paora students. But yesterday's four guilty verdicts brings closure for the complainants and Feilding detective Natasha Allan.

"This has been a prolonged and complex investigation with the victims having the added stress of having to endure two trials," she said outside court.

Shepherd family spokesman Taiarahia Black said the outcome was a huge loss for whanau and the community.

"He's devoted almost a lifetime to Maori educational advancement."

Mr Black said Shepherd would be "absolutely shattered". He did not think the schools would be impacted by the revelation.

Defence lawyer Paul Mabey, QC, said it was too early to say if an appeal would be lodged.

Justice Robert Dobson remanded Shepherd in custody for sentence in September.

- © Fairfax NZ News