5 Dec 2017

Sexual abuse of pupil by teacher trial opens

6:26 pm on 5 December 2017

A man who says he was sexually abused by his teacher for five years has told a court he waited until both his parents were dead before coming forward because he didn't want them to feel guilty.

The man gave evidence at the Manukau District Court where his former teacher is on trial for the historic sex abuse at one of the country's most prestigious schools.

The teacher - who has interim name suppression - has denied five representative charges of doing an indecent act on a boy and one of sodomy.

The man talked about living two lives.

He spoke of having a desire for normality in his life while being worried that someone would find out.

The man said he knew what was happening was wrong and tried to break it off several times.

He said the teacher would build up his confidence, telling him he was special.

The man said the sexual abuse would happen in the teacher's office, and at the teacher's home where he received one-on-one tuition.

Some of the sexual abuse also happened in the attic space above the teacher's office - that required both the teacher and the student to climb onto a chair on the teachers desk and pull themselves into the attic.

After finishing school, the man began a relationship with a woman and told her what had happened.

The man said he found out his girlfriend had written a letter to the school when the teacher's wife called him.

She asked if it was true and he confirmed there had been a relationship.

But he said he kept the whole thing secret from his parents - after speaking to a family member who was a lawyer - in order to protect them.

He said he was approached by police in 2015 and it was then that he told investigators what had happened.

Under cross-examination, he confirmed he did not tell anyone at the time the abuse was happening.

He also told the teacher's lawyer, Annabel Maxwell-Scott, that his silence played on his conscience, especially after hearing two other boys had been abused.

The court heard today how the teacher has been convicted for sexually abusing two other boys at another school.

The man also agreed that people came and went from some of the areas he said the sexual abuse was taking place but he and the teacher were never caught out.

He said there had been a meeting with the head master when he was asked directly if there was an inappropriate relationship.

The man said the questions were asked in the head master's office, in front of his mother, and he strenuously denied them.

He agreed he had continued to visit the home of the teacher but said it was a strange mixture of being in a horrible situation but wanting normality.

Ms Maxwell-Scott asked the man if he was ashamed and angry about being a homosexual and blamed the teacher.

The man said that was not the case. He also said it was hard to know how being forced to have sex with an adult for four and a half years had influenced his life.

He accused the school of turning a blind-eye to the sexual abuse.

The trial continues.