On Tuesday, the first of the complainants testified that he had been abused by his former teacher as a child growing up in Auckland several decades ago.
Yesterday, the second complainant said in a police interview played to an Auckland District Court jury that the alleged abuse “f***ed” his life.
“When I initially made the complaint [to police] I thought that would be enough, I thought ‘yay I’ve done what’s right, I can save heaps of other people from going through it’.”
However, he said police sent him a letter after his 2002 complaint saying they would not investigate.
The complainant alleged the former teacher made him out to be “nuts” to his family and went out of his way to discredit him.
“He told me that if I told on him, I’d be the one in trouble,” he said in the 2024 police interview.
The complainant testified in court yesterday that he had “admired and trusted” the man he alleges went on to sexually abuse him.
He said he would stay at the man’s home every other weekend when he was between 10 and 13, and claims to have woken up to the ex-teacher sexually abusing him on one occasion.
“He’s just a dirty old c*** who abused me, I hate him.”
He also alleges the man touched him inappropriately in multiple ways and photographed him in compromising positions.
“It’s haunted me to this day, even now I don’t like being photographed.
“I’ve got no photographs in my home anymore, because I don’t do photos.”
The complainant said the alleged abuse had ruined his life.
“I don’t make friends easily, I never stay anywhere too long, I don’t trust people. I don’t trust the system anymore. It let me down.”
The man is scheduled to be cross-examined by the teacher’s defence team today.
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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