School sex pest revealed
Paul Maitland Gay made sexual advances towards a Hamilton student seeking help with personal problems
A school guidance counsellor who made sexual advances towards a teenager seeking help with personal problems can now be named.
Paul Maitland Gay, 58, was sentenced to four months of home detention when he appeared in the Hamilton District Court on March 23, after earlier pleading guilty to a single charge of doing an indecent act with intent to insult.
The charge, which has a maximum penalty of two years in jail, is a representative charge, meaning it covered offences on a number of occasions between 2015 and 2018 at Melville High School in Hamilton.
Gay subsequently left that school and, for a time, was employed at Fraser High School, also in Hamilton.
Although an application for permanent name suppression was declined by sentencing judge Philip Connell, Gay was not able to be immediately named because his lawyer, Mark Jepson, gave notice of an appeal, which needed to be lodged within 20 working days. No such appeal has been lodged.
Gay’s victim started counselling sessions with the defendant when she was 13 and, over time, the frequency of these increased to sometimes three a day.
He began to frequently steer the topic of discussion towards matters of a sexual nature.
As the girl talked about those issues, she noticed him putting his hands in his pockets, apparently so he could touch his genitals.
On one occasion in 2018, Gay began questioning what she was wearing underneath her school uniform, before approaching and lifting up her shirt, exposing her stomach and bra.
She should be used to that sort of thing, he told her.
Upset, she pulled away and tried to leave.
He stood in the doorway and refused to let her leave until she had calmed down.
On another occasion, the court heard how Gay talked about some upcoming knee surgery and invited the girl to touch his knee, before taking her hand and placing it further up his leg, near the crotch.
Again, this upset the girl, and again he prevented her from leaving until she had calmed down.
After leaving Melville High School, Gay continued to contact the girl, texting her in what is described as a sexual manner, and in doing so, describing various sexual acts he was imagining he was performing on her.
The offending was reported to the police in 2019.
During sentencing, Judge Connell had the benefit of a statement provided by the girl’s father, who said the experiences had badly affected her, and she was now suffering from increased anxiety and behaviour.
Worse, she was refusing to attend any further counselling sessions, as she now had a deep-seated distrust of people in that role.
It was, said the judge, ‘‘a brick wall in her path to recovery’’.
He described the offending as a gross breach of trust, and Gay had, in a letter to the court, admitted it badly undermined the work done by his colleagues in the profession around the country. Gay was academically well qualified, with an unblemished record, and as such would have been fully aware of the damage he was doing to the girl, the judge said.
A Probation Service pre-sentence report had found him at low risk of reoffending, and at medium risk of harm to others.
The report writer said Gay was very remorseful and had feelings of self-disgust.
A psychologist’s report found that, to a degree, Gay blamed work stress for the sexual advances towards the girl.
The judge took a start point of 12 months in jail.
Gay’s guilty plea, remorse and other factors brought that down to eight months, which was converted to four months of home detention.
‘‘This can’t really be said to be the lightest offending in the range of this charge,’’ the judge said.
In declining permanent suppression, Judge Connell said while he had great sympathy for the counsellor’s partner and family, naming the defendant would not amount to extreme hardship for any of them.
‘‘This is serious within the charge he has pleaded guilty to ... [stress and embarrassment] are matters that go with offending of this nature.’’
He noted Melville High School principal Clive Hamill supported the counsellor being named.
While there would be acute embarrassment to the institution, both staff and pupils would be able to meet whatever challenges were presented by publication of the counsellor’s identity, the principal said.
It was a ‘‘courageous’’ stance to take, and very commendable, the judge said.
Fraser High School principal Virginia Crawford, who employed the counsellor soon after the offending took place, did not wish Gay or her school to be named, but the judge said she had indicated would abide by the decision of the court.