He was arrested last month and charged with three counts of unlawful sexual connection with a female aged 12-16, attempted rape and attempted unlawful sexual connection of a female aged 12-16.
The alleged offending occurred in the same suburb as the Kāinga Ora home, though it’s unclear whether the incident occurred at the man’s unit.
The property is a short walk from multiple schools.
Years earlier, in December 2005, the 46-year-old was jailed for nearly a decade after raping and having an unlawful sexual connection with a woman.
The Herald has confirmed the man has other convictions, including for violence and theft.
Speaking on the condition of anonymity, the man’s neighbour said she was disgusted by his placement. She found the situation triggering as she was herself a victim of unrelated sexual violence.
She alleged she first raised concerns about the man’s history with a Kāinga Ora housing manager in late January and then again the following month.
“She cut me short and just said, ‘I can’t discuss other tenants with you’.”
The woman told the Herald that when she contacted Kāinga Ora again last month to inform the agency the man had new sex offending charges, the housing manager allegedly said: “Well, what do you want us to do, kick him out?”
“I said, ‘What would you do, would you like a sex offender living next door to you?’, and she said, ‘I’m not answering that’.”
Kāinga Ora, however, said an earlier call from the neighbour only discussed the agency’s general policies regarding background checks on sex offenders, and that it only learned of the man’s previous sex offences after his latest charges were filed.
This week, the neighbour said she believed the man was no longer living at the address as she had not seen any movement inside the home.
She said there had been no messaging from Kāinga Ora about the sex offender moving into the block of flats and she felt the agency had put people at risk.
“They need to have better screening of their tenants so this doesn’t happen, so [sex offenders] aren’t in an environment where there are families. I understand they’ve still got to have somewhere to live, but not next to families.”
Kāinga Ora says it was not aware a man was a sex offender when they moved him into a flat in Auckland.
When approached for comment, Kāinga Ora regional director of homes and communities John Tubberty said as the case was before the court, it was a “matter for police”.
After further questions, Kāinga Ora confirmed it was not aware of the man’s sex offending history when he moved in.
“We work with police and Corrections to manage risk, in this case though there was no information indicating a risk,” Tubberty said.
“There is a standard process between agencies when housing people who may have court-mandated conditions. If those conditions apply, then these agencies engage with us.”
Kāinga Ora would not confirm whether the man was on bail at the address in relation to the new charges.
Police also wouldn’t say where the man was bailed to but confirmed they opposed his bail application.
They were unable to comment further as the matter was before the court.
The man is due to reappear in Auckland District Court later this year.
Another woman, who lives nearby, said convicted sex offenders should not be allowed to live next to children.
She alleged that before his recent arrest, the man told her he had been in jail, but not what for.
She said after that conversation, she tried to search online what he had done but no information came up.
Housing Minister Chris Bishop declined to comment, saying it was an operational matter for Kāinga Ora.
Katie Harris is an Auckland-based journalist who covers issues such as sexual assault, workplace misconduct, media, crime and justice. She joined the Herald in 2020.
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