School teacher assaulted woman
A teacher at Hamilton Girls’ High School who assaulted a woman has been sentenced to four months of community detention.
Dean Andrew Devcich 36, who teaches physical education at the school, was also ordered to undergo nine months of supervision on his charge of male assaults female, and two charges of breaching a protection order.
He had plead guilty to the three charges prior to his appearance in the Hamilton District Court yesterday.
Details about the incident that led to the charges are unable to be reported as, in a rare move, the summary of facts on the case was withheld from being distributed to media by Judge Robert Spear.
This was because there are details that remain in dispute between Crown prosecutors and Devcich’s counsel, Philip Morgan QC, and the summary before the court did not provide an accurate reflection of what happened, the
judge said.
The offence that led to the assault charge happened in Auckland on February 11 this year, and the charge was laid in court on July 27.
A pre-sentence report on Devcich was ‘‘extremely positive,’’ Judge Spear said.
‘‘You have taken steps to deal with the reasons why you reacted in this particular way.’’
Devcich’s community detention sentence includes a curfew that he be at his home address between 9.30pm and 5.30am.
Marie Gordon, the principal at Hamilton Girls’ High School, was not available to comment on Devcich’s situation and whether his conviction for assault would affect his employment at the school.
The school’s board of trustees chairman Andrew McRae was also approached for comment.
‘‘You have taken steps to deal with the reasons why you reacted in this particular way.’’
Judge Spear
He said as it was a matter involving a staff member, it was appropriate for Gordon to respond and he could give no further comment.
According to Devcich’s profile on the LinkedIn website, he has been employed as a teacher at the school in January 2014.
Since April 2016 he has also been employed by the Waikato Rugby Union as a ‘‘kicking resource coach’’.
He is also the brother of former Black Caps allrounder Anton Devcich.