Bad teachers: New Zealand's most prolific sex offending educators revealed

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
This episode of A Moment in Crime tells a story
of significant sexual offending and abuse, and is intended for
a mature audience. If you or someone you know needs help,
please refer to the show notes for a list of
crisis and care services and agencies. In July twenty nineteen,
police announced that arrested a thirty seven year old teacher

(00:21):
as part of an ongoing investigation into sexual abuse allegations
at a South Island school. The teacher had been charged
with sexual connection with a young person under the age
of sixteen and intentionally exposing a young person to indecent material.
Over the years, I've covered many cases of teachers abusing
their pupils, but this one was like nothing before, and

(00:42):
it turned out to be unprecedented in New Zealand because
the teacher before the courts was a woman. Jamie Marie
Kearney had been the head of Languages at Marlborough Boys
College for about five years and also worked as a
wellness coordinator. She came from a prominent and well known
mind Olbra family. Her husband was a police officer, and
she had two young children. For all intents and purposes,

(01:06):
Kearney looked like a dedicated and hard working educator, but
behind the classroom door, she was an appalling child sex offender.
Kearney's is one of three cases I'll cover in today's
episode of A Moment in Crime. Unfortunately, it's not a
rare occurrence for teachers to be investigated or charged with
sexual offending against the children and young people they're supposed

(01:28):
to be educating, guiding and nurturing. But these three cases
are among the worst. They're the worst in terms of
how the abuse played out, they are the worst in
terms of the number of victims, and they are the
worst because of how long the offending took place. And
in all three cases, these predators could have been stopped

(01:49):
much earlier. There were glaring red flags and concerns were
raised both formally and informally with police and other authorities,
but for various reasons, these affairs remained free and able
to continue hurting and harming young New Zealanders and causing
everlasting damage to their families. In today's episode of A
Moment in Crime, I will tell you about the offending

(02:11):
of Jamie Kearney, Paul Herrick, and James Parker. The latter
two were school principles. I will tell you how they
were caught and how they were dealt with by the
justice system, and where they are now, and I will
tell you how much of their offending could and should
have been prevented. You'll also hear about Parker's recent parole hearing.

(02:33):
Did the man known as one of New Zealand's worst
pedophiles get released from prison? And what does his future
look like. You'll also hear from victims of this hideous
abuse about the impact it's had on their lives and
how it ruined their childhoods. Some speak in their own words,
and others awful stories are told by their parents. This

(02:54):
episode of a Moment in Crime as intended for a
mature audience. It refers to sexual offending against children and
is graphic in parts. I will never describe every detail
of sexual abuse or assaults. I don't believe my audience
need or want to hear the most intimate details of
this kind of offending. My omission of this deeply personal
and often triggering information is also out of respect to

(03:16):
the victims I'm reporting on and others who may have
been through similar ordeals. But I firmly believe it's important
that the basic details about these cases are made public
and in particular that the way these offenders target groom
access and harm victims is explained in full. If we
know more about these crimes, we can do more to

(03:37):
stop them happening. In future. We can protect people from
suffering a lifetime of harm at the hands of pedophiles
and predators. Parents and caregivers may recognize red flags and
warning signs that otherwise would not have known about, and
most importantly, victims may be encouraged to speak up about
their own abuse and hold offenders to account. If you

(03:58):
have suffered abuse or worried about your own or someone
else's child, please see the show notes for information on
help and support services. From the whodune its in cold
cases to the strange and quirky, crime is one of
the most fascinating corners of society and the news from
the New Zealand Herald newsroom comes a Moment in Crime,

(04:20):
a podcast delving into some of New Zealand's most high
profile cases, offenses and offenders. Each month, I'll take you
inside some of our most infamous incidents, notorious offenders, and
behind the scenes of high profile trials and events to
show you what's really happening in your backyard. As I

(04:44):
was putting this episode together, a twenty six year old
teacher was arrested and charged with sexual offending against at
least one teenage student. She was charged with two counts
of sexually violating the boy, one of performing an indecent
act on him, and another of communicating with him and
effectively grooming he him with the intention to facilitate sexual contact.
The court heard one of the alleged defenses actually took

(05:06):
place at a major metropolitan shopping center. The teacher was
granted name suppression, so in this episode I can't tell
you anything more about her. The police investigation into her
offending was also ongoing. I will continue reporting on the
prosecution as it unfolds in the Herald and will soon
be able to publish much more on this case. In

(05:27):
New Zealand, it's rare for female teachers to be charged
with this kind of offending, but it does happen. In
twenty nineteen, Jamie Kearney became the first woman to be convicted, sentenced,
and jailed in New Zealand for child sex offending and
a student teacher context. The offending came to light in
July that year when police issued their statement announcing her arrest.

(05:47):
From that day on, I followed the case through the courts.
In October twenty nineteen, Kearney pleaded guilty to seven charges
of unlawful sexual connection with miners and one of exposing
a minor to indecent materialurial. Over a year long period,
it emerged Kearney had been having sex with two fifteen
year old boys and parked cars, often telling the victims

(06:08):
she loved them and showing them explicit videos. She also
admitted engaging in group sex with the victims and having
sex in cars with tinted windows parked in public places.
Some of the charges were representative, meaning the acts happened
numerous times. At her first court appearance, Kearney was granted
name suppression, so for a long time we could not

(06:29):
identify her. Her name stayed secret, despite the wider Blenham
community knowing exactly who she was, for months after she
was jailed. I'll tell you more about that later. In
December twenty nineteen, I traveled to Blenheim to attend Kearney's
sentencing before Judge Tony's or Ub. The hearing began shortly
after two fifteen PM on December seventeen. The courtroom was packed.

(06:53):
Families of the young victims and school staff sat opposite
Kearney's family and friends, with members of the public taking
any bear seats they could grab. For the first time,
Kearney's offending was outlined in full, Crown Prosecutor Mark O'Donohue
explained that she had worked at Marlboro Boys College for
more than a decade and had had sexual connections with
an unknown number of male students. However, the offending she'd

(07:17):
admitted to related to just two tenage boys. O'Donohue said.
During her time at the school, Kearney targeted boys in
lower socioeconomic families, boys who played rugby. The offending against
the first victim began soon after he and Kearney worked
together at a school event. His parents were probably proud
he was getting involved in extracurricular activities, exerting himself beyond

(07:39):
the classroom. Little did they know he was effectively being
groomed for sex by a person they should have been
able to trust. Often while she was at home or
with her own young children, Kearney started to send the
boy text messages asking about his sport. Offering him rides
to various places and telling him about her life. That
messaging ramped up until it was happening every day. The

(08:03):
pair soon started to spend most lunchtimes together, and Kearney
unloaded on the boy about her personal problems. Court documents
stated she would talk to him about her mental health
problems and tell him that life was getting too hard
for her and she needed someone to talk to. The
defendant and the victim built up a trust, and this
led to her getting flirty with the victim. Kearney was

(08:25):
well into her thirties, the student was fourteen, barely old
enough to be left on his own legally. Kearney would
lean on the boy emotionally, and during one of their
lunchtime meetings, the relationship became sexually abusive. She drove the
boy in her personal vehicle from school to a car
park and a local reserve. The boy told her he

(08:46):
was worried someone at school would notice his absence, but
Kearney told him not to worry that she would fix
up any problems. Sitting in the car at the reserve,
Kearney became emotional and moved from the driver's seat to
the back seat. She invited the boy to join her.
The car windows were tinted and nobody could see what
was happening between the pair. The teacher began to flirt

(09:08):
with the student, then she climbed onto his lap and
started to kiss him. She touched him, performed an explicit
act on him, and asked him have you had sex before?
The boy avoided her question, telling her he had sport
training and he needed to get back to school. Coarney
drove him back and dropped him down the road from

(09:28):
the school so they didn't get seen. Before the boy
got out of the car, she told him, don't tell anyone.
From there, the trysts became more abusive. Cooney first enticed
the boy to have intercourse with her when they were
parked at a Blenham sports venue on another school lunch break.
She invited him into the back seat and she initi

(09:49):
added the sexual activity. After that. The abuse was routine,
and let me be very clear here, it was abuse.
It was an adult age nearly forty years old, coercing
a child into having sex. That is child sex abuse,
plain and simple. Sometimes Courney would pick the boy up
and abuse him on a Friday afternoon while she waited

(10:09):
for her own children to finish sport training. By now,
the boy believed he was in a relationship with his teacher.
Court documents stated she would tell him that she loved
him and how amazing he was. There are a number
of times where she told the victims she would kill herself,
and this made the victim feel he needed to stay.
This went on for about a year. Perney's abuse of

(10:31):
the boy was much more than physical, though. She also
used social media to exploit him and expose him to
things completely inappropriate for his age. She would take naked
photos of herself while she was in the bath or
in bed at home, assumedly at times while her husband
and children were nearby, and send them to the victim
on Snapchat. Snapchat is a popular messaging app that lets

(10:52):
users exchange pictures and videos called snaps. The images and
videos disappear after they're viewed, but can be screen grabbed.
Kearney would also FaceTime the victim, show him her body,
and tease him. She seemed to be relentless in pursuing
his attention. In late twenty eighteen, the abuse took a
new turn when another boy became embroiled in the situation.

(11:15):
He was invited to a group chat by the first victim.
The chat was used the court herd to discuss sexual matters.
A day after that, Kearney picked up both boys and
drove them to a local park. There, in the back
of her car, all three engaged in sexual acts. The
teacher then dropped the young students at the gym. The

(11:35):
second boy visited Kearney in her classroom. Soon after, they
started play fighting and then kissed. She told the boy
they needed to leave school to go somewhere. She led
him outside and told him to go and wait for
her down the street. He followed instructions and Cooney picked
him up minutes later, driving him to the sports venue
car park and abusing him in the back seat. After

(11:59):
the look meeting, Kearney dropped the boy off at his home.
They continued to meet and the sexual abuse carried on
for months. Kearney's criminal offending was revealed soon after the

(12:39):
first victim tried to end things with her. She wouldn't
let him go. She continued to message him and tell
him that she loved him. She also sent in a
decent video of herself and nude photographs. Soon after that,
photos and videos began to circulate of Kearney in various
stages of undress, touching herself and engaging in sexual acts

(12:59):
with boys. Police became involved, an investigation began and she
was arrested. The Crown Prosecutor revealed to the court that
Kearney had engaged in sexual activity with numerous students at
Marlborough Boys College. However, she was only charged in relation
to two of the boys. Keep listening for more on this.
Later in the episode, after he had outlined the offending

(13:22):
in court, the prosecutor o'donahue spoke further about Kearney's actions
and the impact. He said, She's gone out of her
way to target them in a sexually exploitative way. There
was a significant breach of trust. She attempted to manipulate,
coerce and control the victims with threats of self harm.
This was sexually exploitative conduct by an adult. She emotionally

(13:46):
manipulated both boys. O'Donohue said Kearney's offending was aggravated by
the fact the offending went on for so long, the
vulnerability of the victims, and the age discrepancy between the
boys and the offender. Cooney's lawyer, Jonathan Eaton, who became
a High Court judge soon after. This prosecution argued that

(14:06):
the offending was far less serious than the Crown was
making out. Eaton submitted the offending was not degrading and
the only aggravating factor was the boy's age. He said
the boys were big athletes and there was no degree
of physical intimidation by their then teacher. He attempted to
downgrade the offending further, telling the court Cooney was not

(14:27):
a classroom teacher for either of the boys. However, he
did accept the breach of trust was up there. Judge
Zaurab shut Eaten down on a number of points. He said,
even if the actual physical offending was not considered degrading,
a fifteen year old boy being involved in a three
way sex act in a car with someone old enough

(14:49):
to be his mother had to be at least demeaning.
He rejected Eaton's suggestion that the physicality of the victims
made them less vulnerable. While they might have had the
bodies of men, he said they very much had the
minds of children. O'donahue added to that in his submissions,
saying young people are significantly different neurologically to adults. Their

(15:11):
ability to control, impulse and make wise judgments of a
last part of the brain to develop, and an adolescent
is more prone to acting with impulse behavior. It was
the adult in control here and the adult who was
doing wrong. Before Judge Zorab handed down Kearney's sentence, the
court heard from the young victims in their own words.
They weren't present in court they didn't want to see

(15:33):
the offender. O'Donohue read their short statements, saying it was
clear from their words that Kearney had emotionally manipulated both boys.
He said the boys came from families and cultural backgrounds
where they were private and reserved. It's hard to say
stop to a personal authority, and it's even harder to
stop once it started, he explained. The first boy's statement read,

(15:57):
Missus Kearney made me worry about her is. When I
tried to say what was happening between us, she told
me she would harm herself. This is not fair. She
should not have put that burden on me. The second
victim revealed that when he tried to stop the abuse,
Cooney locked herself in a car and started cutting herself
with scissors. He said, I was ashamed. I didn't want

(16:18):
to do it anymore. Part of a letter Kearney had
written a head of sentencing was also read in court.
The letter was meant for the victims, school and wider community,
but only part of it was sheared in court, and
Kearney's lawyers refused to provide the full letter. Following the hearing,
Eaton said his client was still struggling to comprehend and
articulate why she offended, but the clear message is that

(16:42):
she does take full responsibility for her offending, he said.
In the letter, Kearney referred to herself as a sex
offender and said she was aware of the impact of
her actions. She wrote, I make no excuses for what
I have done, and I am here today to face
the victims and the community. I'm ready to do that.
I would like to express my deep regret to the

(17:03):
victims and their families. You were students and I was
the teacher. I am deeply sorry I have hurt you
and brought shame to your families. It was only me
that was in the wrong, and you have nothing to
be ashamed of. Judge zub turned to the formal sentencing.
He was scathing of Kearney. He said you were a teacher.

(17:24):
This is not a situation of you being a young
female teacher. You were a mature woman. You had a
senior leadership role in the community. Parents were sending their
children to the college to be educated and nurtured. You
have breached that trust effectively. There was grooming and premeditation
on your part over a long period of time. Judge

(17:46):
Zaurab described the offending as a gross breach of trust
and pointed out that no one should have been more
attuned to the needs of young men growing up than
a trained teacher. He said, it's difficult enough growing up
without the sorts of things occurring. Your role was a
pastoral one. You have seriously compromised your obligations. He sentenced

(18:07):
Kearney to two years and six months in prison for
her offending, and he refused her application for permanent name suppression.
Eaton had argued that her name being published would have
a negative impact on her children, husband, and wider family,
who were well established and known in the community, but
the judge said that was a natural consequence of offending

(18:28):
and something the family were equipped to deal with. Further,
her victims did not want their abuser to keep her
name secret and their parents were adamant her names should
be made public. When the judge rejected the application, Eaton
then immediately said the decision would be appealed. That meant
Kearney's name suppression automatically kicked in for twenty working days

(18:50):
to allow her team time to prepare a case for
a higher court to consider. In New Zealand, the court's
close over the Christmas in New Year period, so of
course that twenty working days was drawn out further than
it would be ordinarily. On February four, twenty twenty, very
close to the deadline for filing an appeal, the court
informed me that Kearney had abandoned her fight for secrecy,

(19:13):
meaning she could finally be named. The day after Kearney
was jailed, Marlborough Boys College spoke for the first time
about the offending. I'd been seeking comment from the chair
of the Board of Trustees for some time, but he
couldn't say a word before the case was determined in court.
In a lengthy statement also provided to the school's parents,

(19:34):
the situation was finally addressed. In that statement, the board
confirmed concerns were raised two times about Kearney's conduct months
before she was arrested, but she offered reasons for her
behavior that were deemed plausible, and no action was taken.
This meant she could continue offending. An independent review found

(19:55):
school staff did not action concerns quickly enough, and if
they had, Kearney could have been stopped sooner. The statement
spanned four pages. Here is what some of the board
chair said. These are his words, voiced by an actor.

Speaker 2 (20:11):
Firstly, I'd like to acknowledge the impact of the former
teacher's actions. Everyone associated with the school is appalled and
devastated by the offending. An impact this has had on
the students and their families. Her breaches of trust towards
all those around her is reprehensible. The person solely responsible
for all these appalling acts has been brought to justice. However,

(20:33):
we believe that the community requires and deserves full disclosure
of the school's actions relating to this matter.

Speaker 1 (20:40):
The chair said the school was alerted to the allegations
against Kearney on May eighth, twenty nineteen. She was immediately
placed on leave. She later resigned and her teaching registration
was canceled within ten days. The board had engaged a
lawyer to undertake an external and independent investigation. The aim
of that investigation was to identify what, if anything, was

(21:02):
known by the school about Cooney's offending prior to the
current allegations. As part of their investigation, the lawyers reviewed
a raft of historic and current documentation, as well as
undertaking interviews with many staff. Forensic IT analysis was also undertaken.
It was established that red flags were raised about Cooney
on two occasions. In November twenty eighteen, Kearney's colleagues raised

(21:26):
concerns that she had a closeness with students. The board
chairman said.

Speaker 2 (21:31):
But when staff discussed this with her, she had provided
plausible reasons, for example, counseling or tutoring of a student.
The teacher said that she would alter her behavior accordingly
and detail some changes to maintain professional boundaries. In mid
February twenty nineteen, a staff member had more serious concerns

(21:52):
regarding the teacher's conduct and raised it with a senior
staff member. At that time, no further action was taken
for a number of reasons. The senior staff member told
about the concern did not fully understand the nature of it.
A technological issue compounded this as changes in the school's
IT system meant a notification of a written statement was

(22:14):
not received.

Speaker 1 (22:15):
In the statement, the chairman maintained neither the board or
principle had any prior knowledge that Kearney was acting to
the detriment of students, or that there was any inappropriate
conduct with students. He said, as soon as management heard
of these allegations, they acted immediately. The lawyers concluded that
staff members at the school did not action concerns quickly enough,

(22:37):
and they said going forward, the school must have better
procedures in place whenever concerns were raised about staff having
inappropriate or unprofessional behavior, and the reporting of that must
be clear and unequivocal.

Speaker 2 (22:50):
The chairman said, there must never again be a situation
where the seriousness of the message is not understood. It
must never be accept or for a staff member to
assume that another will deal with the issue further in future.
Any notifications about such incidents or concerns must be in writing.
It must be shared by email or in hard copy.

(23:13):
The responsibility remains with the staff member disclosing the concern
and is not lifted until notification is acknowledged, indicating that
the matter will be dealt with by others. While we
cannot change the result. It is our intention to put
in place protections which will ensure that the events of
this type do not happen again at our college. While

(23:34):
the school's policies are now more robust, had the existing
policies been followed and other compounding factor has not arisen,
offending may have come to light earlier. We are very
confident that should serious concerns arise in the future, staff
would be very clear on the actions to be taken.
Our parents and community can be assured that the lessons

(23:55):
have been learnt by everyone working for and in the school,
the Board of trustees, senior leadership teams, teaching staff and
support staff, and there will continue to be actions so
that we are not faced for a similar situation ever again.

Speaker 1 (24:09):
In October twenty twenty, Kearney became eligible for parole, having
served a third of her total sentence. She appeared before
the Parole Board that month via audio visual link from
Utahatta Women's Prison near Wellington. I was granted permission to
dial into the hearing and report on what happened. Kearney's lawyer,
Miriam Radditch, said she had been a model prisoner and

(24:30):
was fully supported by her loving and extensive family, including
her two young children. Radditch said Kearney had started to
work to begin to address her offending, but the further
treatment she needed was not available to her in prison.
She said for Kearney to participate in the necessary treatment
for sex offending, she needed to be in the community
rather than locked up in jail. The Board had requested

(24:53):
a psychological risk assessment to help determine whether it be
safe to release Kearney that hadn't been completed in time.
The Parole Board Panel convenor said, it is our view
that we are not able to make a proper assessment
of Miss Kearney's risk in view of the very serious
offending which has brought her into prison and the absence
of a psychological risk assessment. At this time, Miss Kearney

(25:17):
remains an untreated sex offender. It would be very surprising
to us if treatment cannot be made available to her
in prison. In the absence of any treatment, she may
not meet the statutory test for release on parole. The
matter was adjourned till November twenty twenty. Kearney thanked the
Board for seeing her and said she was realistic about
her situation. She said, I totally acknowledge I can't get

(25:40):
fully well on my own. I have done some work,
but I know any treatment, but I've been told on
numerous occasions I won't receive it in prison. I'm open
and willing to any treatment. One of Kearney's supporters also
addressed the board. I was allowed to report on what
he said, but not who he was. He said, it's
been by Jamie's side since last year. It's been a

(26:02):
long road. Obviously a lot of public interest in this.
We're ready for her to come home. We're all prepared
to muck in and do abbit. We've been here for
Jamie the whole time, and we'll continue that. Whatever conditions
you guys put in place, we're willing to abide by that.
When Kearney appeared before the Board a second time, it
was agreed she could be released. The psych report had

(26:23):
been completed and gave the board valuable information. The psychologist stated,
while there were no risk assessment tools for female sex offenders,
the risk of Kearney reoffending was low. Her offending occurred
in a very specific context, and for her to repeat
the behavior, three factors would need to be present. Those

(26:44):
factors were a thread of abandonment, access to teenagers with
secondary sex characteristics, and a significant deterioration in mood or
increase in anxiety. Secondary sex characteristics for teenage boys include
facial hair. The psychologist noted that Kearney was engaging an
offense parallelling behavior in prison. She was inappropriately seeking validation

(27:07):
and support from other staff despite engaging with a psychologist
in the assessment process. Her lawyer said that could be
addressed with community based rehabilitation and support, but the one
on one work with the psychologists that had been recommended
was not likely to be able to take place in
the prison environment. Kearney's case manager then explained that a
lack of resources within the prison psychological services meant Kearney

(27:31):
was considered a low priority and she couldn't confirm that
the woman would get rehabilitation in prison at all. They
agreed there was more opportunity for Kearney to get treatment
in the community, and they suggested a particular program she
should attend if released. The parole board provided me with
its final report later on. It said Kearney spoke well

(27:51):
to the panel and described the stress as she was
suffering at the time of her offending her personal issues
and the poor decisions she made. She said she had
taken on board what the psychologist said and accepted that
she needed ongoing help. She also admitted that before she
was jailed, she hadn't been honest with health professionals and
failed to fully disclose the extent of her personal issues,

(28:13):
The board said. Miss Kearney told the board she didn't
think she could survive on her own, she was vulnerable,
and she sought support from the victims. Miss Kearney told
us that recently she has changed her behavior, that she's
not seeking support and validation inappropriately. Her supporter, who still
couldn't be named, told the board that he and others
close to her were unaware of the extent of her

(28:34):
stress and issues. He promised that if she was released,
he would ensure that somebody was with her at all times.
He said he'd been at Kearney's side the whole time,
continued to support her and wanted to work with her
on her rehabilitation, The board said. Miss Kearney told the
board she wholeheartedly accepts what she did. She said she

(28:54):
was going to go home, keep her head down, get well,
and love her children and husband. The Board is conscious
that Miss Kearney is, on the face of it, an
untreated sex offender. She acknowledges that she has help, that
she has yet to undertake any rehabilitation. However, we're also
conscious that it's unlikely she will get any rehabilitation in

(29:15):
the prison environment, and Miss Kearney and those who support
her have prepared a release proposal to address that. The
Board considers that any undue risk Miss Kearney poses can
be met by way of release conditions. As such, she
will be released on parole. Curney was released from prison
later that month. Her conditions included not having contact or

(29:37):
associating with anyone under sixteen, apart from her own children
and other young family members, as approved by her probation officer.
She was also banned from having any contact or association
with either of her victims, and from entering or loitering
near any school only, childhood education center, park, library, swimming pool,
other recreational facility, or church without the prior written approval

(30:00):
of her probation officer. In twenty twenty three, it emerged
Kearney had also inappropriately messaged multiple older students at Marlborough
Boys College, sending the teenagers, nude photographs and discussing drugs
and self harm. She had admitted to police during their
investigation that she'd had sexual relations with a number of
other boys. She was only ever charged in relation to

(30:23):
the two young teens. Her conduct outside of the criminal
prosecution was assessed by the teacher's disciplinary tribunal. Its decision
was released publicly in May twenty twenty three and revealed
that in May twenty nineteen, Cooney began messaging an eighteen
year old student on Snapchat. The conversation was initially about rugby,

(30:44):
but the teacher then sent photographs of her breasts. She
later picked the student up in her car and told
him of her depression. She performed oral sex on that student.
Days later, while in school, she and the student left
in her vehicle. Kearney rubbed the student's private parts, and
when he told it stop, she replied that he should
stop being a scaredy cat. She later drove him back

(31:05):
to school. A third incident saw Kearney perform oral sex
on two students who were in the same car. Also
in twenty nineteen, Kearney began speaking to a student on
social media after he messaged her asking for help with
his English homework. They began messaging regularly and the conversation
turned sexual. She engaged sexually with that student on more

(31:26):
than one occasion. She also spoke to him about how
she wanted to self harm. There was another instance of
the teacher messaging a student about her mental health. The
tribunal said Kearney would send angry messages to the student
if he didn't reply to her and apply he was
in the wrong for doing so. The decision also included
further instances of Kearney hugging students, calling one beautiful, and

(31:50):
speaking of self harm and drugs. The decision didn't specify
how many students she had inappropriately engaged with. The tribunal
said Kearney broadly accepted or finding, although there were some
initial disagreements about some of the particulars. The charge against
Kearney of serious misconduct was proven, and the tribunal said
that had she not already had her registration canceled due

(32:12):
to her criminal convictions, it would have ordered that the
sex offender was censured and ordered to pay more than
six thousand dollars to the tribunal, equating to forty percent
of its costs. I've asked Kearney a number of times
for an interview, offering her the chance to further explain
her offending and make a public apology to her victims
and the boys she harmed. She has refused every time.

(33:02):
In May twenty nineteen, before I had heard of Coney,
and in fact, while she was still sexually engaging with
an abusing teenage boys, I was about to report on
another disgraced teacher. This was a man I've been looking
into since about late twenty eighteen, after a victim contacted
the newsroom to tell us about the abuse her former
teacher had subjected her to. Like Kearney, Paul Roger Herrick

(33:24):
abused numerous children he was employed to educate, protect and careful,
and like Kearney, Herick was only prosecuted in relation to
a few of those he groomed, manipulated and abused. On
the surface, Herrick was a respected and experienced teacher, but
behind closed doors, in dark corners and empty cloakrooms, he
was a repeat and regular sex offender who abused little

(33:46):
boys and girls to fulfill his desires, silencing them with
terrifying threats of violence. Of almost three decades, Eric started
to sexually abuse children soon after he was certified as
a teacher in the nineteen sixties. It was easy to
get them alone. He'd tell them to staff to class
that they needed to be disciplined, and once he got

(34:07):
them on their own, he subjected them to and forced
them to participate in disgusting and deviant sexual acts. Some
of the children told their parents, and some of the
parents confronted the schools, but those complaints were not actioned,
and it wasn't until nineteen ninety three, by which time
Herrick had been teaching across the country and had multiple

(34:27):
principal and deputy roles, that he was finally stopped. He
could and should have been stopped sooner. Had action been
taken in the early years, Herrick's reign of abuse would
not have spanned almost three decades. So how did this
offender get away with it? Why were police not involved sooner?
And how did a man with sickoning sexual appetites for

(34:48):
New Zealand's most vulnerable manage not only to keep his job,
but to rise to the top of it. That's what
his victim wanted to know, and that's what I said
about finding out. When Herrick was jailed for a fourth
time for child sex offending. Hereck was first registered in
nineteen sixty five and continued teaching until June nineteen ninety three,

(35:09):
when he was suspended as police investigated the first raft
of sexual allegations against him. He's not taught since then.
During his career, Herrick taught at many schools across New Zealand.
At two he was deputy principal, and at Sex he
was principal. There may have been other schools too. There
is a gap in Herrick's official teaching record from nineteen

(35:30):
seventy two to nineteen seventy six. There is also no
record on his employment file of the reasons he left
each school. No record of anything untoward at all, but
people knew. Many people in the community were aware of
the abuse, or at least the whispers and allegations. One
of his victims told me that she and other kids

(35:50):
told their parents what he was doing. Some parents went
to speak to the school. When I was researching this case,
the Ministry of Education carried out a thorough check of
all individual school files where Herrick was employed and their
own records of complaints against teachers. There was nothing to
indicate there had been any concerns raised or allegations made.

(36:11):
A spokeswoman said she couldn't confirm when the Ministry was
notified of Herrick's offending. The first mention of it in
his file was June nineteen ninety three, when the board
of trustees at his last school reported Herrick had been
suspended on full pay pending legal proceedings. The courts allowed
me access to Herrick's file, which revealed the full litany

(36:32):
of his offending, or at least the offending known to date.
So far, Herrick has been convicted of offending against eighteen people.
Herreck was first jailed for sex crimes against children on
May nineteen, nineteen ninety four, in the High Court at
Palmerston North. He denied charges of sexual violation and decent
assault relating to children under twelve between nineteen seventy two

(36:55):
and nineteen eighty six. Following a trial, though Herrick was
convicted on all counts by a jury, he was sent
to prison for five years and is fall from grace
and significant loss of Korea was noted by the presiding judge,
but that judge had no idea. What Herrick was convicted
of at the time was just the tip of the Iceberg.

(37:16):
In nineteen eighty seven, Herrick was released from prison. The
parole Boards said the disgrace teacher had completed intensive treatment
for child sex offenders while inside, and it was safe
to allow him back into the community. Since leaving prison,
Herrick has not re offended. However, he did go back
to jail a number of times as more of his
historic crimes were uncovered. In twenty fifteen, Herrick was back

(37:38):
in the dock, this time at Oamaru, entering guilty please
to two charges of assaulting a boy under ten. This
offending happened in nineteen eighty two, when Herrick was thirty six.
Hereck told the little boy to remain after school for
disciplinary purposes, and after the rest of the class was dismissed,
he took the boy to the cloak room and sexually
assaulted him. The boy was terrified, and eventually Herrick stopped

(38:03):
and told him to go home. Some time later in
the year, Herrick again told the boy to stay behind.
This time the assault in the cloak room was much
more serious. The boy became distressed and Herrick had to
let him leave. At sentencing, Judge Joanna Mays said the
betrayal of trust when the teacher offended against a student
had lifelong consequences for the young victim, including preventing natural

(38:27):
sexual development. She said the breach of trust is a
significant factor. Parents are obliged by law to send their
children to school, so parents need to be sure that
those to whom they entrust their children are stable and trustworthy.
Herreck was sentenced to nine months home detention and ordered
to pay two thousand dollars in reparation. In July twenty sixteen,

(38:51):
Herrick fronted another courtroom facing another tranch of sex charges,
and he was handed another jail term the Palmeston North
District Court. Herrick was sentenced for offending against six victims,
boys and girls, all under twelve, across three years in
the early eighties. His offending included sodomy in decent acts

(39:11):
and decent assaults and inducing indecencies. Judged Jim Large locked
Herrick up for another four years and nine months. The
world wouldn't hear about Paul Roger Herrick again until he
was granted parole in December twenty seventeen. He convinced the
board he was no longer a danger to children, pointing
out had been offense free for the past twenty to

(39:32):
twenty five years. He claimed his mind was obsessed with
keeping himself and the community safe. Soon after the hearing,
a story was published outlining his release conditions and sex
offending history. Soon after that, Herrick got another visit from
the police. The story about Herrick's parole was published on

(39:56):
January six and spotted by a woman had taught early
in his career. She saw the name and recognized the face,
despite the age that almost fifty years had added to it.
Her breath caught in her throat. She was immediately back
in that quiet cloak room, Herrick restraining her, abusing her,
warning her of the violence that would befall her if

(40:16):
she told anyone. Until then, she'd never told a soul,
not her family, not a single friend, not even her husband.
But maybe now it was time. She battled with the
decision for a while and eventually picked up the phone
and called police. She and seven others did the same thing,
leading to Herrick facing another raft of charges and being

(40:38):
sent back to prison in twenty eighteen. The woman then
reached out to me at the Herald. She wanted to
talk about her experience and the impact Herrick had had
on her. Life. She wanted to let other victims know
it was okay to speck up, no matter how long
it had been since the abuse. Every victim who contacts
me to speak about their darkest days and their journey

(40:59):
through the justice system does so for a different reason.
Some want to ensure their abuses names and faces are
known in the community. Some want to help other victims.
Some want to create awareness and help educate the public
about a particular crime or various parts of the investigation
and prosecution process. Others have been negatively impacted by the
justice system and want to vent about that. No matter

(41:22):
what their reason is, each victim's experience is important, and
the decision to share it with a complete stranger who
will then share it with the world is courageous and
often inspiring. I think it's fair to say most of
the victims I've worked with over almost twenty years as
a journalist have found the process cathartic. It gives them
a sense of closure, It gives them a voice and

(41:42):
allows them to finally take the control and power back
from the creatures who hurt them. They get the last
word on their terms. That has always been an incredibly
hard but humbling part of my job. I'm in constant
awe of what people can survive, and it is a
privilege to work with each and every one to get
their particular message out there. I can remember here expected

(42:04):
was extremely nervous. Her family still knew nothing of the abuse.
She still hadn't told her husband, and she'd made excuses
about where she was going to attend court. She was
so traumatized by what her teacher had done, so deeply affected.
I met her at a cafe halfway between Auckland and
the town she lived, so no one would see us together.

(42:24):
She was shaking as she started to tell her story,
a story that could have been the last if she
had been listened to, if her it had been stopped
at the time, she was just eight when her teacher
started to abuse her frequently. She said she lived in
constant fear because she never knew what would set him
off when it would come for her next. This is

(42:44):
what she told me. While these are her words for batim,
this is not her voice.

Speaker 3 (42:50):
I was convinced I was the only one. When I
saw an article in the paper last year, it absolutely
stopped me in my tracks. I realized this man was
a serial child molester. I feel so sorry for those
children after me. He should have never been allowed to
do that, all those victims up and down the country,
everything he did. I don't know how someone could do

(43:13):
that to innocent children. I don't know what goes through
their heads.

Speaker 1 (43:17):
The woman said Herrick would abuse her, then threatened to
hurt her physically if she told anyone. He walked her
up to a gillotine in the classroom used for cutting paper,
and sliced through a sheet to demonstrate how sharp the
blade was.

Speaker 3 (43:30):
She said, he told me that if I told anyone
what he was doing to me, he would put my
thumb in there and slice it off. He put a
piece of paper in there and sliced it to show
me he was serious. He was vicious, and this was
what we had to live with. I believed him. I
never spoke about it until I spoke to Jimmy at
the police station. It was harrowing going through the evidential interview.

(43:54):
I didn't even tell him everything. I just told him
enough to make it clear that what this man was
doing was so wrong enough to get convictions. I could
only report what I could clearly remember, But there was more.
It turned out that the bloody bastard was molesting the
boys as well as the girls. We were all terrified
of him, terrified of doing the wrong thing because we

(44:16):
knew what he would do to us.

Speaker 1 (44:18):
The woman said she always felt scared at school. She
and her young classmates had a shared terror of Herrick.
But the reason why I was never voiced. She explained
that she didn't have a close relationship with her mother,
so she didn't feel comfortable disclosing what was happening at school,
and at the time, speaking to her male relatives was
just not an option, so she kept the abuse to herself.

Speaker 3 (44:38):
She told me, I was raised to believe that little
girls who spoke about men like that were little tramps.
I thought, oh my god, if I say anything about
what this man is doing to me, I'm a little tramp.
And I didn't want that. I was so scared no
one was going to believe me he was a teacher.

Speaker 1 (44:57):
After initially contacting the police, the victim all almost decided
against an evidential interview. It was a horrible process, and
she was so anxious about it, reluctant to relive how
she felt as a little girl, she explained.

Speaker 3 (45:10):
But then I thought about the other victims, and I
decided I had to. I thought of the harm that
he's caused because people didn't stop him, the silence that
we lived in. I'm ashamed. I never had the courage
to tell anyone about it earlier. But back then little
girls who spoke up against grand men were troublemakers, so
I just got on with it.

Speaker 1 (45:30):
When Hereck was sentenced for the last time by Judge Creighton,
the woman was in court, facing him for the first
time since primary school. She read an impact statement. She
said he showed no emotional empathy. There was not a
flicker of feeling on his face as she described the
turmoil and devastation had caused. The judge later allowed me
to access court documents that reveal more about Herrick's crimes.

(45:51):
The file revealed that one sexual assault only stopped when
Herrick's own daughter disturbed him. Hereck told another girl he
would throw her through a reinforced glass door if she
told anyone about the abuse. A lot of the offending
happened in the cloak room after Herrick made sure no
other children or teachers were nearby. In one case, the
assault only stopped when the child managed to run away.

(46:14):
In court, the judge said, the offending against children is
offending against our most precious commodity. Here it can be
described as someone who, over an eighteen year period preyed
on children, children who was supposed to teach, protect and nurture.
He rejected the suggestion of home detention and said prison
was the only place Herrick was going after court that day.

(46:36):
He said it would be an inadequate response to what
can only be described as a serious set of offenses
and would likely give the unfortunate impression that if you
can keep your offending quiet for long enough so that
it's revealed only in dribs and drabs, you may be
able to benefit by having the sentence commuted to home
detention on one or more occasions. I have to take
into account that this was part of very large scale offending.

(46:59):
Had you appear in court in the mid nineties, when
all of these matters would have come together, you would
have faced the court as probably one of the most
significant offenders of a sexual nature that had appeared in
New Zealand of that time. Judge Creighton had a strong
message for Heirck's victims. He told Herrick they were in
no way responsible for your offending. I also make extremely

(47:21):
clear that none of your victims should feel in any
way that they have assisted you in further offending by
the fact they did not feel able to pursue matters
back in the late sixties and early seventies. What comes
up glaringly from this case is that there were matters
brought to the attention of schools, but you, your sadess,
their vulnerability, and their lack of status meant that whatever
had happened at that stage, you would not have been stopped.

(47:44):
We are fortunate today that we would have a far
more protective and proactive approach to such complaints. But none
of your victims should feel in any way that they
have had any responsibility for any of your offending against
anyone else. That falls plainly at your door. Judge Creton
sent Hereck back to prison for twenty one and a
half months. The victim I spoke to said she chose

(48:06):
to share her abuse in the hopes that anyone else
harboring a dark secret like she had, felt empowered to
come forward. Mostly, she wanted to make sure herrec could
never harm another child again, and give a voice to
those who were silenced, not heard, and not believed in
the past. The victim said she had struggled with the
abuse over the years, especially the feeling that she could

(48:27):
never speak about it. She said, this will.

Speaker 3 (48:30):
Be with me for the rest of my life. There
is no way I will ever fully forget it. But
I have had a good life, a productive life, and
a happy life. Despite all of this, I have to
move on. I just wanted to be believed. Some of
the children told their parents and they went to the school.
It was swept under the carpet and he was allowed

(48:51):
to keep teaching us. He went on to become a principal.
The more he went on, the more skilled he got
at keeping it a secret. He should have been stopped
in the sixties.

Speaker 1 (49:03):
Detective Jimmy Walker was the police officer who worked on
the final investigation into Herrick. He told me he'd also
located a number of potential victims who chose not to
make formal complaints. He described Herrick's offending as significant, particularly
given the almost fifty year gap between the abuse and disclosure.
He said, this investigation and the subsequent convictions show that

(49:26):
sexual offenders can be held to account regardless of the
passage of time, and I would urge victims not to
be discouraged from disclosing offending against them simply because of
a time gap. It's not easy for victims to disclose
difficult childhood experiences, especially when it may be the first
time they've ever spoken of the offending to anyone. Over

(50:11):
the years, I have covered many cases of child sex
offending of people in positions of trust and power, taking
advantage of people in their care and subjecting them to
awful and vile abuse parents, caregivers, coaches, dance instructors, music tutors,
youth workers, and volunteers. Every offense against a child is repulsive.

(50:31):
Every person behind that offense is repugnant, and when it's
a teacher, a person parents must legally hand their kids
over to for eight or more hours a day, it
is a particular kind of sickening. One of the worst
both of my reporting career and in New Zealand history,
was a predator named James Robertson Parker. In twenty thirteen,

(50:52):
Parker was sentenced to preventive detention, meaning that even if
he is released on parole, he remains under the management
of corrections until the day he dies. He had earlier
pleaded guilty to seventy four charges of sexually abusing little
boys over thirteen years. Most of the boys were from
moory and or low socioeconomic families and had been put

(51:13):
in the care of Parker, the local school principle to
alleviate family stress. Like Keoney and Herrick, Parker could have
been stopped many years earlier, but nobody took concerns about
him seriously. Parker's story begins in the late nineties when
he was still a young teacher in training at a
small school in the far North. He was well liked
in the school in wider community, and principal Fiona love

(51:36):
At Davis thought the young educator had great potential, but
soon she began to see red flags. The school was
in an area where many families struggled financially. Parker often
had pupils to sad his house took of parents a
bit of reprieve. They were more than happy for the
youngsters to go and stay with the man they affectionately
called Jamie. He was a nice man, clean cart and trustworthy.

(51:59):
The kids like and he lived with his girlfriend, who
was a teacher ade at the same school, so he
was considered normal and safe. One day, Parker's girlfriend told
Fiona that when pupil stayed at their home, Parker would
often sleep in the same room with them or let
them sleep in his bed. Fiona would later say Parker
was a delightful young man, relaxed, sober. We all loved

(52:21):
him and felt he brought some special qualities to our school.
I did not have any reason to believe he would
become a pedophile. He was kind of gormless and asexual.
But she was concerned about what his girlfriend told her
and felt compelled to report the information to police. None
of the boys were spoken to, though A police youth
ad worker confronted Parker in the school car park about

(52:43):
the allegations, but nothing more was done. The same year,
a schoolboy went to police and made a complaint about Parker.
He was interviewed for an hour by a police specialist interviewer.
During that interview, he retracted his claims. Police spoke to
Parker too, giving him every opportunity unity to confess, but
he strongly denied any allegations of abuse. Without evidence, Parker

(53:06):
could not be prosecuted. Before that point, no one in
the school community had any suspicions about him. Many people
turned on Fiona, accusing her of having a vendetta against
Parker and berating her for causing him trouble. Her concerns
never faded, though, and she later refused to support Parker's
application to become a fully registered teacher. She went as

(53:27):
far to warn the principle at his next school. It
seems that principle mistook her concerns, believing Fiona was worried
about Parker violating multicultural practices rather than potential sexual offending.
He went on to give a formal recommendation that Parker
become a fully registered teacher. In two thousand and nine,
two boys made allegations that Parker had sexually abused them.

(53:50):
They were interviewed twice by police. The second time they
retracted their claims. Police sent a letter to the school
urging that Parker's habit of taking children to his home
was inappropriate and of concern. No further action was taken
by police or the school, if only they had done more.
In twenty twelve, another boy came forward and made a

(54:11):
fresh allegation against Parker. This led to a proper investigation.
By August that year, Parker was facing forty nine charges
of sexual abuse. He pleaded guilty to all of them.
His case was being heard in the Fargareay District Court,
but after Parker admitted the offending, the presiding judge declined
jurisdiction and transferred the case to the High Court for sentencing.

(54:34):
The purpose of that was so preventive detention could be considered.
That's a sentence that can only be handed down on
the High Court. By the time Parker's sentencing date arrived,
another twenty five charges had been laid against him relating
to another group of victims. When the first allegations were made,
the community was horrified. When the extent of the offending

(54:55):
was revealed, there was anger, outrage, and a lot of
guilt urached that over the years, as his first principle
had feared, Parker was targeting children from impoverished and vulnerable homes.
He embartered them to Sadus House, an isolated farmhouse in Ahipada,
under the guise of teaching them, but there was no educating,
just sexual abuse. The seventy four charges included twenty five

(55:19):
of Parker doing indecent acts with boys under the age
of twelve and thirty five of indecent acts on boys
age between twelve and sixteen. The rest of the charges
were for unlawful sexual connection and sexual violation of boys
all under sixteen and many under twelve. Many of the
charges were representative, meaning police believe Parker committed multiple offenses

(55:41):
of the same type in similar circumstances. In total, the
charges related to upwards of three hundred offenses. Most of
the offending occurred in the period between two thousand and
six and twenty twelve, although there were two charges relating
to abuse. In nineteen ninety nine, I traveled to Fangrey
to attend Parker's sentence. I sat in the High Court

(56:01):
as just as Paul Heath heard about the profound and
permanent damage and hurt the teacher had caused innocent boys.
I watched devastated parents, watching the man that trusted to
look after their children as they listened to the details
of what he actually did to them. It was a
grueling day, but it was incredibly important to make sure
the facts of the case were reported in full. For

(56:23):
the first time, details of Parker's personal life could also
be published. The court heard Parker had a strained relationship
with his father while growing up in a strict Christian
home when he was thirteen. He recognized that he liked boys,
but suppressed his feelings because in his home, homosexuality was
an abomination. Who was unable to establish and maintain age

(56:45):
appropriate relationships and targeted boys who were vulnerable to his
sexual advances. He recognized many years ago that his sexual
preferences were a problem, but never sought help. Parker acknowledged
his victims were all boys from troubled homes or bass.
The offending against each boy started with hugging, touching, and
spooning when they spent nights at his farm. They'd sleep

(57:07):
in the lounge together to watch TV after a day
of quad biking or other activities that magnetize the boys
to the property. After the lights were turned off, the
sexual abuse would occur. At sentencing, the court heard from
some of the boys and their parents. They spoke of
the deep and lasting damage Parker had caused, the destruction
of childhoods and educations, and the devastation of families. One

(57:31):
boy said he first met Parker in two thousand and eight.
An abuse occurred the next year. He said, I told
some of my own family members about it, but they
didn't believe me. They told me I was lying. I
remember them saying he wouldn't do that. This made me
start to hate my family because they believed you over me.
Even now, my relationships with my family isn't good. I

(57:53):
had a lot of anger inside and ended up smoking
cigarettes and even weed to try and forget what you
did to me, I said. After he spoke up about
the abuse, Parker pulled him out of class and told
him he could lose his job because of what the
boy had been telling people. The boy said, it was
hard going back into your class, and I remember crying
and feeling like shit. I remember even feeling bad inside,

(58:15):
like I had done something wrong. I started to think
it was all a dream because that's the only way
I could deal with it by myself. The boy said
he was bullied and teased at school, lost a lot
of friends, and even contemplated suicide because of what Parker
did to him. I blame you for a lot of
my sad feelings, for my anger. I think you're sack.
A second boy said Parker stole his childhood from him.

(58:39):
He said he loved being on Parker's farm, working with
animals and taking part in fun activities. Every time he
went there he was worried about what Parker would do
to him. He said often there were several boys there,
but the abuse would only happen when I was there
by myself. I would go home with a feeling of
disgust and feeling dirty. I'd spent a lot of time
in the shower, but even then I wouldn't feel clean.

(59:01):
Jamie stole my childhood from me. I hate him for
what he's done, and I will never forgive him. Jamie
had power and control over me, but no one will
ever be able to treat me like that again. One
boy's mother told the court she had known Parker since
he was nineteen years old and trusted him so much
she sent her son to his farm every school holidays.

(59:22):
She said, my boy loved going to Jamie's, but after
one holiday, he didn't want to go back, and he
wouldn't tell me why. She said she almost died inside
when she found out what Parker had done to her son.
I want you to feel the pain that these boys
and all the rest of us are feeling, she said.
Another mum told the court that she had to try
really hard not to let the thoughts of this monster

(59:45):
entering her head every day. She said her children could
no longer be at school because they can't cope with
the sadness. They're teased and bullied at college because they've
had the misfortune of knowing you. She said, They've been
punished just for knowing you. Isn't that just sick? Justice
Heath also heard from the crown. In defense before handing

(01:00:06):
down Parker's sentence, Prosecutor Michael Smith submitted the sex offender
should be given a sentence of preventive detention because of
the risk he posed to the community. He said his
offending is in many respects without comparison in New Zealand's history.
It is without comparison and defies summary. Only when the
boys spoke out, when they stepped forward, would he finally

(01:00:28):
accept and admit what he's done. It was their bravery,
and their bravery alone that has brought a stop to
this person's behavior. Smith finished his submissions saying the damage
done to Parker's young victims was incalculable. The sentence won't
fix the harm, he said. Defense lawyer Alex Buttonhannah said
the victim impact statements had had a profound effect on Parker.

(01:00:51):
He said his client had been and remained grief stricken
at the harm had caused. He explains that Parker was
very distressed by his attraction to a certain age group,
and he was motivated and committed to getting help. Wit
and Hannah told the court that in two thousand and nine,
when Parker was first investigated by police and alarm bells rang,
he didn't confess his crimes because he felt he had

(01:01:12):
reached a point where he couldn't stop himself. He said,
it tells us that the man has a sexual deviancy problem,
and part of the tragedy is that there was not
someone whom he could turn to for help. But Justice
Heath disagreed. He said, it doesn't tell me that. It
tells me that he was aware of his problem but
was prepared to continue to do it, rather than to

(01:01:33):
admit to the police and admit that he needed help.
Given that, Justice Heath was not satisfied a finite sentence
would adequately protect society from Parker. He said, I believe
there is information that indicates a tendency for you to
commit similar offenses in the future. Past behavior is the
best predicator of future behavior. Justice Heath said Parker could

(01:01:56):
have stopped the abuse when first spoken to police in
the nineties, he said he did have a choice, and
he made the decision to continue to offend, and the
offending escalated. Look at the people who might have been spared.
He then turned to formal sentencing of James Robertson Parker.
This is actual audio from the courtroom on the day.

Speaker 4 (01:02:18):
James Robertson Parker. You appear for sentence today, having pleaded
guilty to seventy four charges involving unlawful sexual connection and
indecencies committed against young boys. The offending includes twenty five

(01:02:38):
charges of indecent acts with boys under the age of
twelve years, thirty five of indecent acts on boys aged
between twelve and sixteen years, four of sexual connection with
a child under the age of twelve years, five of
sexual connection with a young person aged between twelve and

(01:03:01):
sixteen years, and five of sexual violation. What is clear
is that you have harmed the small community that you
were supposed to serve to an unimaginable degree. I begin
by acknowledging the presence here today of many of the

(01:03:24):
victims of your offending and family members. I acknowledge, in
particular the courage of those who have stood today in
court and read their victim impact statements with great dignity.
I had hoped that the way in which the statements
were read by victims and family members today would give

(01:03:46):
you a greater insight into the harmful effects of your
conduct than you seem to show when you were first
confronted about the activities. You may or may not have
got that greater insight. However, I could not help to
notice that when you were listening to the statements, you

(01:04:08):
did not even have the courtesy to look the victims
in the eye. You simply sat there, holding your head
in your hands and not looking towards them. Mister Parker,
on each of these seventy four chargers, you are sentenced
to preventive detention with a minimum term of imprisonment of

(01:04:32):
seven years. The sentences will run concurrently. I recommend that
you be given such treatment as is prescribed to you
to assist in your rehabilitation as soon as possible. I
can do no more than that.

Speaker 1 (01:04:48):
Standout Parker did not speak at a sentencing, but when
he admitted the first bundle of charges, he read a
statement in court claiming his thoughts were with the fifteen
young victims said words cannot express the total shame, guilt, regret,
and sorrow that consumes me day and night because of
the things I've done. Believe it or not, these crimes

(01:05:08):
were committed against people I care very much about. I
wish I could fix the damage I have caused. My
crimes have also had an awful and drastic consequence for
my school community, students, staff, parents, board of trustees, and principle.
You are all indirectly victims of what I have done.
As a teacher and deputy principle, I held a position
of great trust. My actions betrayed that trust. I have

(01:05:31):
let you all down, causing huge amounts of unnecessary stress.
I'm truly sorry. Those of you who know me well
will know that I am not the monster that many
will betray me to be. I am, however, the unwilling
host of the most terrible disorder. After a sentencing came
the result of the investigation into the abuse by the
New Zealand Teacher's Disciplinary Tribunal. It had looked into what

(01:05:55):
had and had not been done over the years that
could have stopped Parker's offending. The principle at his school
was censured by the Tribunal for not setting up a
process to monishor Parker after police warned him the teacher
was inappropriately having young pupils to stay overnight at his house.
The principal had actually been sacked a year earlier after
it was determined he didn't take appropriate action when the

(01:06:16):
concerns were first raised about Parker. The sentence of preventive

(01:06:43):
detention with a minimum non parole period of seven years
did not mean that Parker would be released in seven years.
It meant he would have to stay behind bars for
the rest of his life unless the Parole bull was
satisfied it would be safe to release him. He had
to serve seven years in jail before he was eligible
for parole. When that time came, the board refused to
release him. He saw the board again in August twenty

(01:07:05):
twenty three. Again he was deemed too much of a
risk to return to community. The board heard Parker was
in a sex offenders unit at Rolliston Prison near Christchurch.
He attended weekly group meetings with other sex offenders and
participated in other programs centered around rehabilitation. He worked as
a cleaner in the prison's administration building and was said
to have a positive work ethic. He had had two

(01:07:27):
guarded releases, meaning he had supervised trips away from the
prison into the community. The prison psychologist said Parker was
an average risk of sexually reoffending, although at the high
end of this risk range. They said he continued to
maintain treatment gains and demonstrated positive behavior change around a
number of dynamic risk factors. Board acknowledged Parker had completed

(01:07:48):
the rehab phase of his sentence. However, had not developed
a release proposal, which outlines where an offender will live
and work outside prison and how they planned to reintegrate
and stay out of trouble, so Parker couldn't be released
on parole. The board said it was necessary for Parker
to complete a significant period of consolidation and testing through
a range of reintegration activities. Parker's most recent parole hearing

(01:08:12):
was on Friday, September twenty this year twenty twenty four.
I was granted permission by the Parole Board to attend
the hearing. Any journalist can apply to attend a parole hearing,
and the chair makes a decision after considering a number
of factors, including whether their presence will impact the running
or the purpose of the hearing in Parker's case, the
board allowed me to attend and take notes. I wasn't
permitted to record sound or take photos or video. Since

(01:08:35):
I last saw Parker in the Fargarday District Court, his
appearance hasn't changed much. He's still tall and lean and
looks far younger than his actual age. At the start
of the hearing, Parker said that he was nervous while
speaking with the media present, but he promised to be
open and honest to ensure the board panel had all
the information they needed to properly consider his release. Panel

(01:08:55):
convener Christopher King asked Parker to explain how the offending began.
The inmate said it all started when he was a child.
He was raised in a Christian household and his father
had strong religious beliefs. He said, things happen in your
life that are out of your control. I've always known
I've been attracted to the same sex. However, back in
those years that was an okay within our church or family,

(01:09:18):
it wasn't okay. So I learned to hate that part
of myself and actually hate myself. I wished I could change.
I developed core beliefs about being unworthy, not good enough,
a mistake. Parker said he felt confused. He said, I
never felt like I fit in. I felt excluded. I

(01:09:39):
used to try to seek approval from everyone else. I
used to try to be mister nice guy all the time.
Parker learned early on that he connected well with children
and felt that sense of love and belonging that he
had always been searching for. He explained, although it was fake,
all distorted thinking, that's where I felt comfortable. The affection

(01:09:59):
they showed to me, I turned into something sexual. Parker
admitted that his first offending was in his teens against
a younger youth. My life was a high risk situation,
he said. I kept defending for years. That's all I
thought about. Parker said he didn't become a teacher specifically
to get access to young boys. He told the board,

(01:10:21):
I've thought about that a lot during my treatment. Did
I become a teacher to become closer to children in
order to offend? I loved teaching, and I loved being
around children and doing my best for them. It was
an innocent choice to become a teacher, But then that
created an opportunity for me, and I preyed upon vulnerable
children the most vulnerable. Parker acknowledged being warned over the

(01:10:44):
years by the principles at the schools where he taught
and members of the community about his behavior with the children.
He responded with, in his words, absolute denial. He told
the board, my life was a lie and it was
extremely stressful, not only my offending but also my sexuality.
I burned the candle at both ends, trying to please everybody,

(01:11:07):
trying to make up for the bad I was doing.
I compartmentalized it. I refuse to think about it because
if I didn't, I could look for justifications for what
I was doing. The reason I was able to offend
against so many boys was that I convinced myself that
I wasn't hurting them. They kept coming back, They kept
coming back for years, and I couldn't see any difference.

(01:11:30):
I chose not to listen to those people. But treatment
has taught me. It's changed my life. It showed me
how I came to be how I was, and taught
me to be how I am now. It has changed
how I see the world and how I see myself,
and how I see the things that I have done
and the people that I hurt. Parker became emotional when

(01:11:50):
he explained to the board that he genuinely loved his
community and still does. He said, but I've hurt them
so much. I just broke their t and it's very
hard to live with that. I can't make this right.
But I've given this treatment everything I've got. I've done
everything I can. King asked Parker about his empathy for

(01:12:10):
the young victims and their families. It's awful to think about,
Parker said, I took away their childhoods. I took away
those first experiences they should have had. I'm mortified every
day I wake up and the world comes crashing back down.
When I wake up and I remember what I've done.
My life was a high risk situation. My life was

(01:12:32):
a lie. Parker also spoke about the impact as offending
had on the wider community, particularly Pamaputia's school pupils he
had not offended against. There was so much publicity. They
couldn't even go to school. People were all looking. It
must have been absolute hell for them. It's absolutely awful
to think about. Parker then spoke to the board about

(01:12:54):
his future plans. He said, I'm absolutely committed to not
hurting people I've heard a lot of men say that
they're not going to offend again. I'm not fixed. I'm
not fixed, but I know now that I can manage.
I know the warning signs, I know my high risk situations.
I'm absolutely determined. I'm anxious about going into the community.

(01:13:16):
That's due to my high profile. I'll be a dedicated
worker if anyone takes me on. I realize my life
is going to be totally different from how it was before.
But I do want to be a contributing member of
the community, to have a job and work and do
the things I love within the boundaries of my new life.
I know it's going to be very different, but I'm confident.

(01:13:39):
Parker then explained to the board that his family had
been wonderful and he had their full support. He revealed,
I came out to them during my treatment program. I
came out to everybody. I don't feel lonely anymore because
I'm actually being who I'm supposed to be, and that's
really special. I should have told them years ago. Things
would have been so oh different. After the board took

(01:14:02):
a brief adjournment to consider parole, King delivered the decision
to Parker. He said, parole was declined, but the board
would see him again in March twenty twenty five. He
hoped that during that time Parker could participate in the
Release to Work program and get more experience in the community.
King said, it is also a period of testing in

(01:14:23):
a new context for some of these very important lessons
that you've learned. James Parker will eventually be released from prison.
He will be in the community. He will undoubtedly come
into contact with young people, but he will be living
under a series of strict conditions for the rest of
his life and monitored by the Department of Corrections. He
will never be allowed to teach again, and I imagine

(01:14:44):
and hope his access to young boys will be watched
very closely. Any new offending or inappropriate behavior could see
him return to prison to continue serving his time. Sadly,
James Parker will not be the last teacher to abuse
their position to hurt chill. I have no doubt I
will report on many more vile offenders like him before
my career is over, and I have no doubt there

(01:15:07):
will be more cases where offending could have been stopped
much earlier. In the month I was preparing this episode
of a moment in crime. There were a handful of
examples of sex offending and badly behaved educators. It's appalling,
but I've heartened their actions of being reported on or
their victims are finding the strength to disclose what's been
done to them. In July twenty twenty four, my colleague

(01:15:29):
Jeremy Wilkinson reported on an early childhood teacher who allegedly
kissed a three year old boy on the lips multiple times,
sparking serious concerns from his colleagues and parents. The man's
alleged conduct towards four other children under five was also
under the microscope, including nuzzling his face into the chest
of a three year old girl, kissing another girl's hand,

(01:15:50):
and rubbing the leg of a young boy. The reliever
teacher appeared before the Disciplinary Tribunal in Auckland, charged with
serious misconduct for the incidents that alleged occurred at two
different centers in twenty twenty one. He was granted interim
name suppression and a ruling on his charges as yet
to be released. A month later, my colleague Hannah Butler

(01:16:10):
reported on primary school teacher Aaron Jarmi, who was sentenced
to eleven months homes attention after she admitted an inappropriate
relationship with a preteen girl over an estimated nine month period.
The thirty nine year old pleaded guilty in the Rotorua
District Court to a representative charge of an indecent act
with a child. As I explained before, a representative charge

(01:16:31):
means police believer a person has committed multiple offenses of
the same type in similar circumstances. The indecent acts covered
by the charge related to hugging and kissing, described by
witnesses as the pair touching and caressing each other's bodies
and a lover's cuddle. According to the summary of facts,
one of the kissing episodes lasted for several minutes. Most

(01:16:52):
of the kissing happened when Jami picked up or dropped
the girl off. The neighbors who saw it initially didn't
realize it was the pre teen girl, mistaking her for
an older girl. Jamie was a senior teacher at a
primary school and first met the victim through her role there,
but she was never the child teacher and the offending
didn't happen when the girl was a student at the school.
Outside school, she befriended the young girl's family and offered

(01:17:15):
to pack her up and take her to extra curricular activities.
The pier sent and estimated nearly six thousand messages over
a messaging app for kids, and also emailed each other.
Jamie would often go for a walk in the evening
and call the girl, having conversations that would last for
an hour or more. While Jamie was under investigation, she
continued to contact the child, chatting to her via another

(01:17:37):
online platform for kids. After the woman was charged, she
was told by police to stop communicating with the victim,
but she didn't. She deliberately attended an activity outside of
school that the girl was involved in and was observed
taking photos of her. When Jamie was charged, she was
stood down from a teaching job. At sentencing, her lawyer
told the court she'd made a horrific mistake. Situation was

(01:18:01):
a tragedy of Shakespearean proportions. He claimed his client was
struggling to come to grips with how it all came
about and was undertaking counseling. Jarmy provided a letter of
remorse to the court, and the judge said it showed
she accepted she crossed a line and developed an inappropriate
relationship with the girl. In the letter quoted by the judge,

(01:18:21):
she expressed her heartfelt apologies and said she was deeply
remorseful and ashamed by the effects that has caused everyone involved.
She wrote, reflecting on the situation, I recognized that the
mentorship friendship was blurred, became messy. It was not a
romantic relationship. When she wanted more of my time, I
should have backed away, but I didn't. I want to

(01:18:41):
express my sincere regret that I did not set firm
enough boundaries. The judge said the offending was a significant
breach of trust, but it was in Jarmey's favor that
her indecencies had not involved contact with the victims genitals.
He noted she was a first time offender with good
prospects of rehabilitation. In New Zealand, every teacher must abide

(01:19:02):
by the Code of Professional Responsibility set by the National
Teaching Council. They must make a number of commitments to
the teaching profession, learners, families, INFARNO and society. One commitment
is I will maintain public trust and confidence in the
teaching profession by demonstrating a high standard of professional behavior
and integrity. Another is I will work in the best

(01:19:23):
interests of learners by promoting the well being of learners
and protecting them from harm, and engaging in ethical and
professional relationships with learners that respect professional boundaries. A Third,
I will respect the vital role my learners families in
Farno play in supporting their children's learning by engaging in
relationships with families in Farno that are professional and respectful.

(01:19:44):
And Lastly, I will respect my trusted role in society
and the influence I have in shaping the future by
promoting and protecting the principles of human rights, sustainability and
social justice. It's fair to say that all of the
teachers I have encountered in New Zealand's Criminal Court thought
over the years have flown in the face of this
code and flagrantly ignored the commitments by which they should

(01:20:05):
be operating every minute of every hour they were working
or engaging with students. Offenders like Kearney, Herrick Parker and
Jami all shatter the public trust and confidence in the
teaching profession. Their wild manipulation of children, their wholly inappropriate behavior,
and their insidious, deviant and damaging offending makes people question

(01:20:25):
who they are leaving the young people with. But for
every evil, second, disgusting offender, there are obviously tens of
thousands of other brilliant and valuable educators. Those people are
often the ones that bring their abuser colleagues to justice
and help rebuild the lives of the young victims. If
you have any concerns about a specific teacher or the
welfare of a child, please speak up. If you report

(01:20:47):
concerns to a school, there are now strict protocols they
have to follow in terms of reporting matters up to
the relevant authorities, and if you report concerns to the
police or the Ministry for Children ur Na Tamariki, they
will be taken seriously. Schools should be a safe haven
for kids and by and large they are in New Zealand.
Those individuals who choose to hurt children need to be

(01:21:08):
held to recount and it is up to everyone in
the community to be vigilant in reporting anything that doesn't look,
sound or feel right. For more information on her to contact.
If you're worried about a situation like anything outlined in
this podcast, please see the show notes. A Moment in
Crime is an enzed Me podcast written and hosted by

(01:21:29):
me An Elsk, senior Crime and Justice reporter for The
New Zealand Herald. The podcast is produced by myself, enzed me,
audio engineer James Irwin and podcast production manager Ethan Sills.
Thanks to my colleague Jess Davidson and another anonymous helper
for stepping in as voice actors on this episode. To
every person who has survived any of the offenders mentioned

(01:21:51):
in this episode, thank you for your bravery, thank you
for coming forward and sharing your stories and helping to
stop these awful predators from hurting any more young people.
And to anyone else who has been abused, please reach
out and tell someone. Episodes of a Moment in Crime
are usually released monthly on inzidhero dot co dot inzid, iHeartRadio,

(01:22:12):
and all of your usual podcast apps. If you have
a crime or case you'd like me to consider covering,
email and a dot lesk at enzidme dot co dot
inzeed

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