They’re outraged by Skelton’s offending, which he denies happened, and also that his victim and her family are too traumatised to return to their Hāhei holiday home.
The businessman said some locals have accused him of being a vigilante and of spreading hate.
Hāhei locals are divided over the return of convicted sex offender James Skelton (inset) to the village, including some who have vandalised his holiday home. New Zealand Herald composite photo
Others who want rid of Skelton have been responsible for repeated attacks on his bach; painting the word “Pedo” on his holiday home, as well as throwing bottles through several windows.
Skelton served a 10-month home detention sentence in Auckland after being convicted in November 2024.
Local businessman Shaun Jackson said that despite the 80-year-old serving his sentence, he didn’t deserve a second chance.
“A family has been driven away from their home out of fear, while a convicted sex offender remains… in the community,” Jackson told the Herald.
Local businessman Shaun Jackson wants convicted sex offender James Skelton (inset) gone from Hāhei. New Zealand Herald composite image
“He thinks he’s been misjudged.
“This is a convicted paedophile… the trust is broken.
“I want the community to feel safe. I will carry on doing this until he leaves this town. He will be leaving before me.”
An unwelcomed return: Sex offender’s holiday home vandalised
Skelton’s post-sentence conditions for six months included not entering Hāhei without prior written approval from his probation officer.
Other post-detention conditions included attending an assessment for the Safe network programme as directed by a probation officer, and attending and completing any counselling, treatment or programme as recommended by the assessment, as directed by and to the satisfaction of a probation officer.
A neighbour of James Skelton says she and her 6-year-old daughter don’t feel safe living next door to him.
On March 7, days after completing the post-sentence conditions, Skelton returned to Hāhei, the community that watches him as he watches them.
A post was then made on social media informing residents of the Coromandel settlement, where the population is about 300 and swells to more than 3000 during summer, about Skelton’s return.
Among those concerned was the father of a young mother who rents the property next to Skelton’s holiday home.
Sophie, not her real name, claimed her father was given a frosty reception when he approached the convicted sex offender about his return.
“He told my father to ‘f*** off’,” she claimed.
“I think he probably believes that if he didn’t live next to a woman with a young child, he could quietly sneak back into the community.”
She said she doesn’t feel safe living with her 6-year-old daughter next to the convicted sex offender.
James Skelton returned to the Coromandel village where the offending happened days after his sentence conditions ended.
Sophie has lived on the street for two years and said she is part of a “beautiful” community where everyone gets along.
She claimed she felt unsettled after Skelton recently chopped back some trees and removed bushes on the border of her rental and his holiday home.
With no fence separating the two properties, Sophie said her privacy has been taken away.
Sophie says her privacy has been taken away by James Skelton after he trimmed trees and bushes bordering two properties. Photo / Michael Craig
She is now concerned about her daughter and her friends playing anywhere near Skelton’s house, running around in their togs and using the outdoor shower.
One morning, as she was driving her daughter to school, Skelton stood at the end of his driveway, with his hands on his hips, glaring at her, “staunching me out”, she claimed.
“My daughter said, ‘Mummy, why is that man staring at us?’ I said, ‘Don’t look at him’.”
Sophie says she won’t let her daughter use the outdoor shower of their rental or run around in her togs because of their neighbour. Photo / Michael Craig
A few weeks ago, Skelton’s house was vandalised with the word “Pedo” painted on it numerous times.
During the evening of Anzac Day, bottles were pelted at Skelton’s home, smashing his bedroom windows. The next morning, Sophie claimed she saw her neighbour taking photos of her house.
She told him she and her partner were sleeping and didn’t hear anything. Skelton told her, the attack sounded “like a bomb went off”.
Pensioner offender was viewed as a ‘trusted grandfather figure’ to his victim
Skelton had met his victim, then aged 9, and her family in Hāhei.
Both families have holiday homes there.
The then 76-year-old made friends with the girl’s family and was “trusted like a grandfather”, according to Judge Anna-Marie Skellern’s written sentencing notes.
Skelton was found guilty by a jury at the North Shore District Court on two counts of doing an indecent act on the girl, with offending relating to incidents in April and May 2022.
Skelton denied the offending.
James Skelton met the young girl he sexually abused in Hāhei. Photo / Michael Craig
Judge Skellern’s written sentencing notes from the November 5, 2024, sentencing hearing outlined the impact of the offending on the girl and her family.
“The impact on the family has been significant to say the least,” the judge wrote.
“The victim’s father and mother speak of the severe impact on the family, their feelings of disbelief, their feelings of anger, their feelings of being deceived and their deep sadness.
“They refer to the changes in this child and the overwhelming, as I would put it, sense of helplessness that they feel in respect of the changes to their family dynamic.”
The judge said the parents had taken various measures to “try and ameliorate some of the damage”, including therapy for their daughter.
The child had “ongoing fear” and had been diagnosed with PTSD.
James Skelton sexually abused a young girl who now has “ongoing fear” and PTSD.
“The victim herself speaks of her issues with sleeping and the bad memories that now attach to what was one of her special places in the world,” Judge Skellern wrote.
Skelton received a 10% sentence reduction for his previous “good character” and a further 5% reduction for offering to pay a $12,000 “emotional harm reparation payment”.
Jackson said it was “absolutely disgusting” that such a reduction had been made to someone “who has committed a criminal sexual act on a child, destroyed their life and taken away their innocence”.
On Sunday, Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith announced that if National is re-elected into Government at this year’s election it would scrap good character assessments for sex offenders at sentencing for all sexual crimes.
No order was made for him to be added to the Child Sex Offender Register.
‘Standing up for her’: Why businessman wants Skelton out of his settlement
Jackson said he, and other locals, are fed up with what they believe is Skelton’s lack of accountability and remorse.
He wants the convicted sex offender out of Hāhei and is making no apologies for his public stance.
Hāhei resident Shaun Jackson believes James Skelton should be on the Child Sex Offender Register. Photo / Michael Craig
“This isn’t acceptable. People who stay silent are supporting him, and that’s not an option.”
The 56-year-old father of two said he wants to keep his community safe and wants Skelton to show remorse for his actions.
Not everyone feels the same as Jackson; some locals claim Skelton has been punished and suggest the businessman should let the matter drop.
Jackson claimed he has been “shut down” on local Facebook community pages by what he calls “woke” moderators.
A poster of convicted sex offender James Skelton that was distributed throughout Hāhei before being taken down.
Posters he has put up around Hāhei outing Skelton as a sex offender have also been taken down.
But Jackson said he wants to do the right thing by Skelton’s victim and her family. He also said some Hāhei residents “feel threatened and unsafe” by Skelton’s presence.
“Why should this poor girl and her family suffer? While others have their heads in the sand, I am standing up for her.
“Skelton has taken away the girl’s innocence and she is now too scared to come back here.”
Jackson also said he was stunned that not everyone convicted of a sexual offence against a child was automatically added to the Child Sex Offender Register.
“The law needs to change so the victim isn’t living near her abuser.”
Close friends of the victim’s family also told the Herald that Skelton’s return to Hāhei to use his holiday home had retraumatised the girl.
“She can’t go back to the holiday house, she can’t walk to the beach,” the couple said.
“She is broken and living a life sentence. If our system allows a child to live in fear while a convicted sex offender can return to a normal life where the abuse occurred, justice has failed her.”
Shaun Jackson confronted James Skelton about chopping foliage on the boundary with his neighbour. Photo / Michael Craig
Jackson recently confronted Skelton, asking why he had chopped down the trees on the border between his holiday home and Sophie’s rented home.
In an audio recording of the conversation, which has been supplied to the Herald, Jackson also asked Skelton why he had returned to Hāhei.
Skelton said they were his trees, adding: “I don’t give a s*** about her privacy; she’s renting and can find somewhere else to live”.
The convicted sex offender also claimed the family of the young girl had lied during the case.
Skelton’s wife, Rose, can also be heard on the recording claiming that fighting the charges cost $400,000 in legal fees and that they weren’t planning to leave Hāhei any time soon.
Skelton’s son: ‘Everyone in the family supports him’
Skelton wasn’t at home when the Herald visited.
He later made contact and left a phone message cautioning the Herald not to return to his property.
His son, Andrew, has spoken out in support of his father and also in disbelief at how his father and family property have been targeted by some Hāhei locals.
Andrew said his father pruned and maintained the trees and bushes on the boundary of the property with Sophie’s rental every two years.
“Unfortunately, it’s a terrible situation for everyone,” Andrew said.
“There are many victims here. My 80-year-old mother is living in total fear – she is a lovely lady – and so is my dad.”
He said his parents, both aged 80, were worried about the vandalism to their holiday home.
James Skelton’s family support him and doesn’t believe he is a paedophile.
He said they were both asleep when bottles were pelted through their bedroom windows about 11.30pm on Anzac Day.
“Imagine if a bottle hit him on the head? My mother is traumatised and thought the house was going to be burnt down,” he said.
“I would like to think there is a way forward, but I know it is difficult.”
Andrew said he believed his father was an innocent man.
“I don’t see my father as a paedophile; everyone in the family supports him,” he said.
“I sat through the trial… the whole thing is traumatic for everyone.”
SEXUAL HARM
Where to get help: If it’s an emergency and you feel that you or someone else is at risk, call 111. If you’ve ever experienced sexual assault or abuse and need to talk to someone, contact Safe to Talk confidentially, any time 24/7: Call 0800 044 334, Text 4334
• For more info or to web chat visit safetotalk.nz You can also contact HELP, a 24-hour service for survivors of recent or historical assault and those disclosing abuse for the first time. Call 0800 623 1700, Text 8236
• For more information visit helpauckland.co.nz.
• Alternatively contact your local police station – click here for a list.
If you have been sexually assaulted, remember it’s not your fault.
Carolyne Meng-Yee is an Auckland-based investigative journalist who won Best Documentary at the Voyager Media Awards in 2022. She worked for the Herald on Sunday from 2007-2011 and rejoined the Herald in 2016 after working as an award-winning current affairs producer at TVNZ’s 60 Minutes, 20/20 and Sunday.