Sex at school 'legal'

A sexual encounter between a teacher and student might be morally wrong but isn't illegal if it's consensual and both men are of age, a court heard.

A bisexual teacher, on trial in the High Court in Palmerston North for historic sexual abuse allegations against two teenage boys at an Auckland school, admitted receiving oral sex from a student.

But the act was consensual and the student was nearly 18 years old, he told the jury yesterday.

The teacher denied that two separate encounters occurred between the pair in 1994 for which he is facing two charges – indecent assault and unlawful sexual connection with a male aged 16 or over.

The names of the complainants, teacher and school are suppressed.

Defence lawyer Paul Mabey QC said the teacher had acknowledged the encounter was morally wrong and breached the boundaries of a student-teacher relationship.

But he said that in the eyes of the law, it was okay as the pair were consenting adults.

Fighting back tears, the man told the jury how he came across the student crying on a staircase in the first school term of 1994.

He tried to console the boy before going up to his room.

After doing some marking, he went to bed and was awoken by the boy.

"I sat up in my bed and just grabbed him and told him to calm down. We just hugged, that's all we did. We just lay on the bed, him on top of me."

The student became "aggressive" and straddled the teacher, who then performed oral sex on the boy.

The student, now aged 34, who gave evidence earlier this week, had no recollection of the staircase incident, but said he had performed oral sex on the teacher on two occasions.

On the first occasion he was stupefied by a chemical and then swapped car keys for sex on the second occasion, he said.

The teacher also denied an alleged incident in 1990 between himself and a 16-year-old former student.

"It is totally untrue."

The student, now aged 37, told the jury earlier this week the man took advantage of him while he was drunk and stoned after a gala day disco.

The teacher is facing two charges in relation to these allegations – doing an indecent act and unlawful sexual connection with a male aged between 12 and 16.

Crown prosecutor Chris Shannon asked the teacher why he had added details, including the student being aggressive, to his evidence that was not in his original statement to police a few years ago.

The teacher said he answered specific questions and did not go into detail.

Mr Shannon also asked if the teacher was physically attracted to the student, who became aware he was gay in his early 20s.

"As I said in my evidence and I'll say it again, if it were different circumstances, off school property, as two male adults, it would have been different," the teacher answered.

The trial, being presided over by Judge Robert Dobson, is expected to finish today.

- © Fairfax NZ News