He, the teacher and the school all have interim name suppression.
The former student told the tribunal that his relationship with the teacher began when she kissed him on the lips in front of other students.
But a kiss on a teacher-only day, when he was 17, changed everything.
“This kiss was different,” he said.
After that, the relationship became sexual, and the student recalled having oral sex with the woman, including while in her parked car at a beach. She also took him to motels on at least two occasions.
Sometimes she would touch him sexually during class when no one was looking, he told the tribunal.
He said the teacher told him not to tell anyone, as she did not want anything to happen to her.
But when he ended the relationship and tried to cut contact, she told him she was suicidal, he said.
“I felt she was guilt-tripping me.”
“She would say ‘you’ll be nothing without me’.”
He told the tribunal he felt guilty about the relationship.
“I felt like I was living a double life.”
The teacher also allowed him to drive her car and a van full of students when he did not have the correct licence, he said.
Most of their contact was outside of school hours.
The former student, with his whaea, made a complaint to the school and provided screenshots of text messages between the pair.
The hearing was set down for four hours but ended shortly after an hour as the tribunal accepted the student’s evidence and did not need to call further witnesses.
The teacher, who did not attend the hearing, was found to have committed serious misconduct.
A penalty decision will be released at a later date.
Brianna McIlraith is a Queenstown-based reporter for Open Justice covering courts in the lower South Island. She has been a journalist since 2018 and has had a strong interest in business and financial journalism.