Roast Busters
They were a “gang” of teenage boys who boasted on social media about their sexual activity with underage and drunk girls.
The group was said to be led by Joseph Parker, the son of actor Anthony Ray Parker, and Beraiah Hales.
Police investigated the Roast Busters case several times after a 13-year-old made a formal complaint about the youths in 2011.
At least four other girls came forward and made formal statements to police but no one was ever charged.
Parker spoke out earlier this year, mainly to promote a crowdfunding campaign to help launch his new music career. He claimed he was a born-again Christian and no longer used drugs or alcohol.
“I just did it for LOLs, just for a story to say, I never knew it would turn into what it did but the next day everyone was talking about it,” Parker says in the song Trophies, which addresses Roast Busters and how he sought fame through it. “So I’m humiliating females just for the fame, flying the Roast Busters flag higher than a plane.”
In January 2014 Hales was the first Roast Buster to speak in an interview with the Herald, saying he was “one of the most hated people in New Zealand”. He denied any wrongdoing.
The 13-year-old girl said it had been a “long and hard process” going through the police investigation, which turned out to be “an absolute waste of time”.
She said what happened to her still caused significant issues in her life — mainly in her relationships.