Judge: No red flags for paedophile

A man who raped and abused school children in Christchurch was a good principal when he worked at a Northland school, says a former court judge and school board chair.

Retired Judge Barry Lovegrove was chairman of Northland’s Horeke Primary School Board during Robert Burrett’s time at the helm of the small country school. He said there were no red flags and Burrett left of his own accord.

However, some Northland parents and former students have described the paedophile as a drunkard who had violent tendencies toward children.

Northland Regional councillor Joe Carr’s children were among the 40 enrolled at the school at the time Burrett taught there.

‘‘He would drink during class time. He would get so intoxicated that his wife would have to take over his class for him,’’ Carr said.

Lovegrove and another former board member, John Mokomoko, said they had no recollection of any wrong doing by Burrett and neither could remember complaints made by parents about him.

It was revealed this month that Burrett was able to move from school to school without any red flags being raised about his past.

Burrett has pleaded guilty to 21 charges of sexual violation, rape and indecent assault of young girls, some disabled, ranging in age from 5 to 12. He was working as a caretaker and bus driver at the school some of the girls attended. He would lure them into an underground shed, close the curtains, and commit indecencies.

Burrett worked at Horeke School from 1988 to 1990. Prior to that he taught at Auckland’s Howick Intermediate.

When Burrett left Horeke he went to Lake Rotoma School. Former board of trustees member Malcolm McHale said Burrett’s job application ticked all the boxes. His CV said he was a good teacher and a ‘‘brilliant’’ sportsman and coach, McHale said.

Former Horeke student Amber Latimer said she was good friends with one of Burrett’s five children. She would often stay with his daughter at the Burrett home.

‘‘[His daughter] and I are the same age. I actually stayed at their house – the school house in Horeke,’’ Latimer said.

‘‘He was strange. He didn’t do anything to me. But he drank a lot of alcohol – he was a big boozer.’’

Latimer said Burrett would often smell strongly of alcohol during class and lose his ‘‘s...’’ at the kids.

‘‘My dad had an incident with him about my brother. He threw a pair of scissors across the room at him, hitting him in the arm – it cut his arm.’’

Another pupil, Gina Harris, was a new entrant when she first came in contact with Burrett at Horeke.

‘‘I do have this one vivid memory of him at Horeke Primary School, when I was a new entrant.

‘‘He smacked me for thinking it was morning tea.’’

Carr said Burrett’s departure was welcomed by the school community.

"I think everyone was relieved he was gone,’’ he said. ‘‘I remember reading about an absolute catastrophe Rotoma had in the employment choice they had, by employing Bob Burrett, and I just thought, How do we stop this stuff?’’

Carr said he was not aware of any complaints involving sexual offending, however, and described the crimes committed by Burrett in Christchurch as ‘‘sickening’’.

Lovegrove said he would have gone to police if there were matters involving child safety.

‘‘We had a high opinion of someone who did well at Horeke School, who simply wanted to move on.

‘‘If there had been any suggestion of impropriety on the part of a person who was teaching at Horeke School, then whoever might be the subject of suspicion would have been ridden out of town on the rail or wouldn’t have left the place alive – that community took absolutely no nonsense,’’ Lovegrove said.

‘‘I have utterly no recollection of any complaints by any parent . . . All that I knew, because I had reports from my daughter who, of course, attended the school, that every now and again he used to flip his lid, in terms of throwing dusters at the children who didn’t seem to be paying attention to what he was doing on the board.’’

Lovegrove described Burrett as ‘‘engaging, friendly and anxious to please’’ and was shocked to learn about Burrett’s crimes.

‘‘It came as an enormous surprise, because I had a bit of nose for this sort of thing . . . and there was just nothing that I can recall about that man that would cause a problem.’’

Katrina Casey, head of sector enablement and support at the Ministry of Education, said there was no documentation in its records about allegations regarding Burrett at Horeke School.

‘‘He didn’t do anything to me. But he drank a lot of alcohol – he was a big boozer.’’ Amber Latimer Former Horeke student