Teacher cites ‘double jeopardy’ rule over student sex allegation

A teacher who allegedly had sex with a female student on an overseas trip in 1995 has had a charge of serious misconduct stopped after arguing ‘‘double jeopardy’’.

Alvin Rolfe, now 71, worked at Waikato’s Morrinsville College in the mid-1990s when he allegedly had sex with the seventh form (year 13) student.

He later worked at Hamilton Boys’ High School and Christchurch’s Hagley Community College. He has not retired but does not currently work as a teacher.

The charge was laid in November last year by a complaints assessment committee (CAC) appointed by the Teaching Council.

The complainant – known as Ms A – said Rolfe would rub her shoulders when she used a small study room in 1995. That year, Rolfe accompanied students to a Pacific island, where they had sex, Ms A alleged.

She notified the college in May 1996, and an independent investigation was launched the next month. Rolfe resigned in November of that year. The Registration Board wrote to him in May 1997 saying it could not make a decision on cancelling his registration from the information it had, so ‘‘will not be taking any further action at this time’’.

In August 2003, Rolfe became a teacher at Hagley Community College. In August 2004, the Teaching Council wrote to him saying it ‘‘will not be investigating the issues on your file in the future’’.

The allegations resurfaced in July 2020 when Ms A made a complaint to the Teaching Council. A tribunal hearing was held by video link on March 24 this year. The tribunal’s decision was published yesterday.

Rolfe’s representative said the 24-year delay between the initial complaint in 1996 and the investigation in 2020 was ‘‘unreasonable’’. They said the renewal of the investigation after the 2004 letter ‘‘amounted to double jeopardy and an abuse of process’’.

The tribunal concluded that it would be an ‘‘abuse of process’’ to proceed on six of the seven charges of misconduct ‘‘because of the principle of double jeopardy and the retrospective application of the law’’. The seventh charge was being decided upon by the CAC.

Rolfe and Morrinsville College sought name suppression but were unsuccessful.