Artist jailed for raping his pupils

A well-known Taiwanese artist based in Auckland has been sentenced to 16 years in jail for raping and sexually violating his young students.

William Chao-li Tseng, 50, was found guilty of a raft of sex charges including rape and sexual violation against three teens and one under age person.

A jury earlier found Tseng guilty on all but one charge and Judge Brooke Gibson handed down the sentence of imprisonment at the Auckland District Court on Thursday.

Tseng will serve a non parole period of eight years.

He will then be deported to Taiwan.

Tseng’s identity was previously kept secret under name suppression.

However all four of Tseng’s victims opposed name suppression and Judge Gibson ruled he could now be named.

The offending was premeditated and ranged over a two-year period at his art class business in Greenlane, Judge Gibson said in his summing up.

The victims were young students from ‘‘sheltered’’ backgrounds and these were not one-off offences, the judge said.

Their parents enrolled them at Tseng’s art classes as they believed he had a credible reputation and could be trusted.

‘‘You abused their trust and you let yourself down in terms of the reputation you built up over many years,’’ the judge told Tseng.

The victims were vulnerable and were too scared to speak up about what happened to them.

‘‘They were unable to disclose what you were doing ... you had them completely under control,’’ Judge Gibson said.

Some of the victims lost their love for art as it was a reminder of what Tseng did to them, Judge Gibson said.

Tseng was in a long-term relationship at the time.

He was not proficient in English but spoke Mandarin and French.