She told him she loved him and was able to spend increasing time with him alone under the guise of helping with his fragile mental health.
The woman, who has a family of her own, was supposed to be sentenced in May.
However, soon after the hearing began, it was adjourned until September. It has now been moved to October.
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Her victim’s father has been told that she is heading overseas to support a loved one undergoing a cosmetic procedure.
The teacher admitted multiple charges of child sex offending and will be sentenced in October. She is travelling to Asia on holiday before then. Photo / 123RF
A source confirmed the trip, saying that despite her admitting to child sex offending, there was nothing preventing her from leaving New Zealand.
“This was prearranged travel… She is not sentenced, no (criminal) history, no bail conditions restricting travel,” they said.
Police were aware of the woman’s plans – and acknowledged the father’s concerns.
“However, ultimately there were no legal grounds to restrict travel as part of the woman’s bail conditions,” said Detective Inspector Callum McNeill.
“Bail conditions are imposed by the Court. In this case it was determined the woman’s risk of absconding was low and the Court was satisfied that there was no need to remand her into custody or place any restriction on travel.”
McNeill said it was important to note that the new sentencing date was not due to the woman’s travel plans.
The father was horrified – and enraged.
“This is a woman who has pleaded guilty to child sexual abuse – and she is allowed to travel? What the f***?” he said.
“I just find it absolutely mind-blowing… I just cannot believe how inept our justice system is… I just feel like crying at the moment… It’s a lot.
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“What the actual f*** is the world coming to?”
The father said he had also been told the woman advised lawyers involved in the case she “needed” a holiday as she was “stressed” due to the court process.
“She should spend a day in my shoes. She is on bail for serious offending, she is meant to be living at an approved address – but basically, bail doesn’t mean anything, does it? She can go out and do whatever she wants,” he said.
The country the woman is travelling to does not have an extradition treaty with New Zealand.
“I don’t think she’ll ever come back,” said the victim’s father.
“Everyone has said, ‘Oh that’s alright, you don’t ever have to worry about her’. But that’s not justice – that’s her getting away with it.”
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.The boy was having issues at school and his parents thought the teacher was helping him. Photo / 123rf
The victim’s father said the situation was like “being kicked in the bollocks, repeatedly”.
“And that’s how I feel about the New Zealand justice system… I just don’t believe in it,” he said.
“It’s destroyed me… we’re the innocent ones here, the justice system is meant to be here to protect me and my family, and it isn’t.
“What is happening here, it’s a form of abuse… on top of what she’s done to my son – they’re actually abusing us mentally and emotionally.
“It’s just killing me.”
Police have been contacted for comment.
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.‘Don’t tell anyone’: The sneaky offending
The teacher was charged with grooming a young person for sexual conduct and doing an indecent act on a boy under 12.
She was not the boy’s classroom teacher but was the head of his year group.
Their interaction increased when he started bullying other children.
“We were really worried about his mental health. He was fine at home but not at school,” his father told the Herald.
The boy’s parents trusted the woman because she was a teacher and they thought she was helping him with mental health issues. Photo / File
The boy’s parents were so concerned that they sought help from their local child and youth mental health service.
The woman then got involved, and the boy’s parents believed she was helping them.
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“We thought, ‘great, she’s helping him with his mental health’ – but all the while she was destroying his mental health,” his dad said.
“We would be at the park, and she would be there, and we would allow him to go for a walk up the beach with her. It wasn’t as if we weren’t there.
“She was into fitness, and they’d go for runs and stuff like that – we allowed it because he came back so happy, and to see a mentally battered child happy, that made us happy.
“And – she was his teacher.”
The woman has admitted to messaging the boy on Instagram, Snapchat and Google documents.
It remains unclear when the messaging began.
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Snapchat self-erases messages after they are viewed, and the teacher would manually delete the messages sent via Google after reading them.
Among the woman’s messages to the boy:
“We would make a good couple.”
“If you ask me out, I’ll say yes.”
Police said the teacher “kept asking” the boy to ask her out, and in August 2024, he did – believing afterwards that they were “boyfriend and girlfriend”.
Once they started ‘dating’, the teacher would send the boy messages saying she loved him.
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She also started to spend time with him “unsupervised”.
Sometimes she would go for walks with him and hold his hand.
The teacher sent the boy intimate photos of herself on Snapchat. Photo / 123RF
Once, she took him to her parents’ home to “watch a movie” while they were away. While at the house, they played darts before “going into the lounge and wrestling”.
During the wrestling, the teacher grabbed the boy with her hands and kissed him on the lips.
She also sent the boy multiple photographs through Snapchat – either of her partially or fully nude and displaying her breasts, bottom or vagina.
“Every time she sent (the boy) a photograph, she would tell him: ‘Don’t tell anyone, this is just for you’,” police told the court.
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“On one occasion, she sent (the boy) a selfie photograph of her face, breasts and stomach.
“On another occasion, she sent (him) a photograph of herself fully nude in the bath. “
She sent further nude bath photographs and a “mirror selfie” in which she wore only underwear and a bra.
In another “mirror selfie” she was wearing a shirt, but fully nude from the waist down.
After her arrest, the teacher declined to speak with police.
She pleaded guilty to the charges earlier this year.
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Anna Leask is a senior journalist who covers national crime and justice. She joined the Herald in 2008 and has worked as a journalist for almost 20 years with a particular focus on family and gender-based violence, child abuse, sexual violence, homicides, mental health and youth crime. She writes, hosts and produces the award-winning podcast A Moment In Crime, released monthly on nzherald.co.nz