Sexual assault on pupil

Judge: Indecent exposure ‘accidental’

A teacher who kissed, indecently touched and ‘‘accidentally’’ exposed himself to a 9-year-old pupil can continue to have contact with children.

Judge Raoul Neave presided over the sentencing of the 68-yearold man in the Greymouth District Court last week. The man had earlier pleaded guilty to doing an indecent act on a child.

He has interim name suppression but that will likely lapse later this year.

The offending took place between August 31 and September 30, 2012. The 9-year-old girl was a pupil and the man was her classroom teacher.

‘‘You would choose the victim to help you after class and when she was finished the task you asked her for a kiss and she gave you one. She was somewhat of a favourite,’’ Judge Neave said.

On one occasion during a classroom break, the man was in a room beside the classroom and asked the girl to come into the room at the end of break.

He pulled her on top of him and kissed her several times, felt her bottom and exposed himself.

‘‘She was scared and wanted to get away. She prised herself off you and ran,’’ he said. The girl told her mother and the teacher apologised to the principal and the girl’s father the next day.

Judge Neave said it was a significant breach of trust with a vulnerable 9-year-old. She felt guilt and struggled with her school work after the incident.

But the judge said he accepted the indecent exposure that day was accidental, because ‘‘there was some degree of arousal’’.

Judge Neave refused to put the man on the sex offenders register, despite it being requested by Corrections.

The judge also refused to place a special condition preventing him from having any contact with children, asking a probation officer: ‘‘What is the purpose of that condition other than to make everyone’s life more difficult?’’

The officer replied it was a normal special condition for child sex offenders. Judge Neave said there was no need because there was ‘‘no real risk to the community’’ given the man’s age and the offending happened seven years ago. The judge said prison would be difficult for the man because of his age and ‘‘physical limitations’’.

He sentenced him to six months of community detention, including electronic monitoring and intensive supervision, and gave him a warning under the three strikes law.

The man’s teacher’s registration has been cancelled.

The judge found there was no risk of reoffending.