Offender on staff: anger at school
PARENTS of Bathgate Park School pupils have been venting their anger over the school’s handling of the Tyrin Hamuera Tutaki situation.
The 21yearold was a staff member at the school when he was investigated by Dunedin police and recently sentenced to nine months home detention and 200 hours community work for a sexual relationship with a 13yearold boy.
On February 9, acting principal Katrina Robertson sent a letter to parents of pupils in the class Tutaki was working in, saying ‘‘there may be discussion occurring about a police investigation concerning a staff member who was employed . . . briefly last year’’, and because it was a police and employment matter, the school was unable to comment on the nature of the investigation.
‘‘However, please be assured that the welfare, safety and learning of our students is always our top priority,’’ the letter said.
Many parents are angry they were not notified about the potential threat.
‘‘This makes me [expletive] sick,’’ one parent said on a social media posting.
‘‘As a community, all we want is our kids to be safe, yet here is this predator sitting amongst them at Bathgate Primary.
‘‘I’m also disappointed the school wasn’t open and forthcoming about this happening.
‘‘I’m [expletive] off that when my partner rang them about my daughter, they lied and denied it.’’
Another was angry the letter was not sent to all parents.
‘‘Should’ve been sent to everyone and explained more . . . that’s crazy.’’
University of Otago law professor Mark Henaghan said the school was stuck between a rock and a hard place, and it had done the right thing.
He said the school could not release details of the allegations because it would have jeopardised the trial.
‘‘You can’t have a fair trial if it’s all over the town already.
‘‘People start to form views pretty quickly. Rumours get around and it gets out of control very quickly.
‘‘That’s one of the difficulties for police trying to gather evidence that is untainted and unaffected by rumours and other things.
‘‘It would totally jeopardise the police case. The police instruct you not to reveal any details and the school would have been obstructing justice if they did.’’
He said there had been similar cases where parents had been told what was going on and it made it very difficult for police to prosecute.
Prof Henaghan said the school did the only thing it could — assure parents their children were safe in their learning environment.
Ms Robertson said she understood why parents were concerned, but said she had acted as soon as the situation came to her attention.
She encouraged anyone with questions or concerns to contact her.