School staff member charged with 'sadistic' sex assaults
By Andrew Koubaridis
4:00 AM Thursday Jul 1, 2010
A former staff member at an Auckland school is standing trial on historic charges of "sadistic" sexual and physical abuse of students.
The staff member, who has name suppression, pleaded not guilty to 25 charges yesterday on the first day of his trial in the High Court at Auckland.
He worked at Waimokoia School in Bucklands Beach in the 1980s, when the Crown says the assaults occurred.
The charges include allegations he raped one young girl and abused another while forcing her to watch pornography. He is also accused of indecent attacks on a 9-year-old boy.
The residential school is now closed but used to cater for children with behavioural problems.
Crown prosecutor Tiffany Robertson told the jury the offending against the boy started in his bedroom, but spread to other places - including a windowless concrete "cell-like" structure used for time-out.
It is alleged that he "cornered" the boy in the cell, saying: "It's time to have fun".
Ms Robertson said the boy was indecently assaulted and when he fought back, the staff member "got more violent and held him down to have his way regardless".
The court heard the boy was attacked with a staple gun, a chair leg, a piece of soap in a sock, and had cigarettes burned into his skin.
The man also allegedly stapled the boy's penis to a chair leg.
The prosecutor said the offending was "repetitive and got progressively more sadistic".
She said the man told a 12-year-old girl he "really, really liked her" and touched her on the thigh.
She then went for a shower and returned to her room in her towel to find the accused sitting on her bed.
He is alleged to have forced her to perform sex acts.
Ms Robertson said the third student - another 12-year-old girl - thought the staff member was a "good guy" at first, but he is alleged to have raped her in the school sick bay.
The staff member's lawyer, Ron Mansfield, said his client's position was "a clear one, a vehement one".
"These things did not happen to these children at the school."
The accused would give evidence himself and would call witnesses.
By Andrew Koubaridis | Email Andrew
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/crime/news/ar ... d=10655621 Edited to include a better link
http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/na ... f-children ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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And another presently still retrievable article from last year while the school was open and under investigation]
http://www.times.co.nz/cms/news/2009/09 ... threat.php School closure threat Friday, 04 September 2009 By JACKIE RUSSELL and MARIANNE KELLY A history of management issues at a school for problem children is being tackled by the Government:
A SCHOOL catering for children with extreme behavioural, social, emotional and learning problems could be closed following a Ministry of Education (MoE) review.
Students at Waimokoia School in Bucklands Beach may be better managed in different environments, according to research.
The MoE is reviewing the options and seeking submissions on them.
The special school recently had three staff members charged with assaulting students – incidents which first came to the attention of the police in late 2007.
Two employees were acquitted and one will face a retrial in June 2010 after a jury failed to reach a verdict in July this year.
Another man involved with the school also faces a retrial for sexual offences dating from the 1980s.
Following these serious issues, Dennis Finn was appointed as commissioner of the school last year.
Mr Finn told the Times a range of commissioners had been appointed by the MoE to Waimokoia School over time. He became involved when serious charges were laid against some staff at the residential school, which caters for up to 44 children aged seven to 13.
These youngsters display significant problems and cannot be catered for with existing resources in their local communities.
Mr Finn says the alleged assault issues “are basically dealt with and there are a number of charges sitting with one person that is still a matter before the courts”.
The students involved had left Waimokoia School when Mr Finn was appointed, and he says the staff members charged are no longer employed at the school.
When the alleged offences took place he says there was no conflict between teaching and residential staff members.
“There may have been conflict between some individuals but there wasn’t conflict in general.”
As commissioner of Waimokoia, Mr Finn’s role is to manage the school in accordance with the appropriate processes.
He works with existing staff ensuring the school operates in a safe environment and provides the services necessary to current students.
When the Times asked Mr Finn about the possible closure of the school, he explained that the review is not the result of charges laid against staff members.
“It might have been one of the catalysts, but it is generally about the nature of working with these students with severe behaviour difficulties.
“The closure is being considered because over time there has been research that suggests other ways students like these can be better managed. That certainly was one of the reasons the Ministry of Education called for the special review.”
He says staff members currently at the school do very well and receive ongoing training.
There are teachers at Waimokoia who are particularly interested in dealing with challenging children.
“I strongly endorse the work that is happening in that school right now.”
Residential schools such as Waimokoia have operated in New Zealand since the late 1970s and Mr Finn says there remains a need for such facilities.
He is now focusing on consultations with staff members and the school community, which includes students and parents throughout the North Island. He is collecting submissions to be forwarded to the MoE.
A spokesman for Anne Tolley, the Minister of Education, says the minister has stressed it is important to consider the longer term best interests of the children at the school.
Mrs Tolley, he says, is considering advice from the MoE following an Education Review Office (ERO) review which noted that Waimokoia has had a lengthy history of governance and management difficulties, with a commissioner in place for the past nine years.
“The minister has asked the commissioner to consult with the school community and staff. No decision on the future of the school has been made.”
In 2005, the ERO said the school should provide therapeutic rather than a custodial environment.
It reported incidences of staff placing children in a small concrete block shed with no window for time out. The commissioner, it said, should urgently review the use of timeout at the school, the consistency of its use and the kind of incidents that trigger its use.
However, the following year the ERO said the commissioner and director of the school had made progress addressing the concerns.
“They have a wider range of alternatives to consider when dealing with children and are generally taking action at much earlier stages of a potential crisis.”
Personnel changes were also identified in the 2006 report with a large mixed staff of teachers and residential workers making it difficult to provide a positive employment climate for all staff at all times.
Children from across the North Island attend Waimokoia, which was established in 1960, full-time for 40 weeks.
The Bucklands Beach property was built in 1979 and the school occupied it in 1980 when it was moved from a site in Mt Wellington.
What’s gone wrong at Waimokoia? See Monday’s Times for more on this story. Did you attend, or have you worked at, the school? Email editor@times.co.nz.