Convicted sex offender was Santa at childcare centre parties

An Auckland childcare centre asked a convicted sex offender to act as Santa Claus at Christmas parties in 2017 and 2018, without conducting a police check first.

Geoffrey Desmond Mitchell, 53, was convicted on four charges of indecency and jailed in 1997.

A family member said she was told that Mitchell had interacted closely with the centre’s children as Santa at one of the parties, including holding children on his lap for photographs.

The woman said she called Best Start Educare in Takanini on Monday, and a staff member confirmed that Mitchell had previously acted as Santa. The woman said she pushed the centre to confirm that a different person would be chosen this year.

‘‘They don’t hire professional vetted [Santas]. I guarantee none of the parents were told their small children were sat on the knee of a paedophile and have photos of their kids with him still hanging in their homes.’’

Best Start Educare, a registered charity, is the largest childcare provider in New Zealand.

The manager of the Manuroa Rd centre did not respond to Stuff’s questions, but Best Start deputy chief executive Fiona Hughes confirmed that the centre had not asked police to vet Santa volunteers, as they were classed as ‘‘visitors’’.

Under Ministry of Education rules, all workers at early childhood education centres must undergo a full safety check, including police vetting, but visitors do not need to, unless they are likely to have unsupervised access to children.

Hughes said the company was not aware of Mitchell’s history at the time, and went to police with a query after receiving a complaint from a family member in May. She said police told Best Start that the man was not listed on the child sex offender register.

Hughes said Best Start was taking the situation seriously. ‘‘That grandfather won’t have anything to do with the centre [in future].’’

She said that although the company was open to going further than the ministry’s requirements, centres seeking a police check found that they were waiting ‘‘six to 10 weeks’’ for a result. The police website shows that 96.5 per cent of police checks are completed within 20 working days.

Best Start would ‘‘reiterate’’ rules for visitors and guidelines about Santa visits to its 260 centres around the country, Hughes said.

She said centres were told to provide a chair for Santa, with a child-sized chair beside it. Gifts for the child could then be handed between them. The Santa would normally be at the centre for about half an hour. ‘‘They are always under the eye of a staff member.’’

The Education Ministry said it had checked with Best Start Manuroa Rd and was reassured that it was complying with the rules.

‘‘I guarantee none of the parents were told their small children were sat on the knee of a paedophile.’’ Concerned family member