Predator is jailed for sex crimes
Linton man Paul Roger Herrick should have been helping children with reading and writing during his time as a primary school teacher.
Instead, he gave children an education no one would wish for.
The Palmerston North District Court heard on Friday how Herrick, 71, preyed on vulnerable children before indecently assaulting and sodomising them for his sexual gratification.
He was aged in his 30s when, in the 1980s, he committed crimes against children as young as 9 years old at Awamoa School, south of Oamaru.
He was sentenced to four years and nine months’ imprisonment on Friday for 15 offences against seven children, but they are not his only victims.
He was imprisoned for five years in the 1990s, and given nine months home detention in 2015, for offences he committed against other children around the same time.
The seven victims from his most recent sentencing all came forward after reading about his 2015 sentencing.
The husband of one of the victims read a victim impact statement to the court, explaining how Herrick’s offending had not just impacted his wife, but their whole family. ‘‘Your actions, your crimes, have ripped through time to her children, her partner.
‘‘It fills us with disgrace and hatred for you.
‘‘We are all here today because you have no place in our world. We are here today to witness your removal from decent society. This is our day of justice.’’
Reading from his wife’s statement, he said she would never forgive Herrick.
‘‘I want this over. I want my life back. I just want to move on.’’
Another victim, who was 10 at the time she was abused, said she told people at the time what had happened.
However, nothing was done because Herrick was held in such high esteem by parents.
‘‘Through the past 35 years I wanted someone to look at me and confirm that yes, it was real,’’ she said. ‘‘I just wanted to be believed. ‘‘When I read about your offending to others in the newspaper I felt relieved, because I knew it was real.’’
Herrick threatened to hurt her brothers who attended the school if she told anyway, she said.
‘‘There was always an underlying fear he would do something more to me, and that’s the fear I carried to school every day.’’
Crown prosecutor Michael Blaschke described Herrick’s actions as an ‘‘utter and complete breach of trust, as he engineered opportunities to offending through his role as a teacher’’.
Herrick breached the trust of the children, their parents and the community, Blaschke said. ‘‘The education these children received is not one any would wish for.’’
Defence lawyer Tony Thackery said Herrick’s letters of remorse – written the day after he was charged by police, well before guilty pleas were entered – were genuine. But Judge Jim Large said the time for remorse and apologies was after Herrick was charged in the 1990s or 2015.
Herrick went through sexual offender rehabilitation in the 90s, but never spoke about his other offending at that time.
The judge quoted a pre-sentence report, saying ‘‘it is noted Mr Herrick has not chosen to disclose any offending himself, instead waiting for police to charge him’’. But credit was given for Herrick taking part in restorative justice with one of his victims, the judge said.