{"id":322192,"date":"2026-03-10T09:24:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-10T09:24:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/322192\/"},"modified":"2026-03-10T09:24:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-10T09:24:08","slug":"accused-sex-offender-ronald-thompson-found-living-on-sunshine-coast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/322192\/","title":{"rendered":"Accused sex offender Ronald Thompson found living on Sunshine Coast"},"content":{"rendered":"
Ronald Thompson denied he was well but was filmed enjoying a holiday, drink and smoke. Photo \/ A Current Affair<\/p>\n
After the trial was stopped, Thompson\u2019s family released a statement saying he had \u201cgone overseas to spend his final months in peace\u201d, claiming the media coverage had \u201ccaused a deterioration in his condition\u201d.<\/p>\n
However, two years later A Current Affair found the former carpet salesman from Christchurch walking around the Sunshine Coast with his dog, without the assistance of a cane or walker.<\/p>\n
\u201cI haven\u2019t made any recovery,\u201d Thompson said when a A Current Affair reporter approached him outside an apartment block.<\/p>\n
A Current Affair then showed footage of Thompson holidaying in the Philippines, drinking beers and smoking cigarettes. He justified the holiday because he used a wheelchair.<\/p>\n
Thompson was well known in Christchurch in the 1990s, appearing on television ads for his business, Ron\u2019s Discount Carpets.<\/p>\n
Accused sex offender Ronald Thompson was a well-known carpet salesman in the 1990s. Photo \/ A Current Affair<\/p>\n
The allegations against the carpet seller span 20 years, starting in 1981. After his name suppression was lifted last year, six more people have said they were victims of his.<\/p>\n
One of Thompson\u2019s alleged victims told A Current Affair he was \u201cobviously not dying\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would hope that he\u2019s sent back to New Zealand and he\u2019s tried for this. He needs to answer to it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Australian Federal MP Andrew Wallace, who lives on the Sunshine Coast, said Thompson\u2019s visa should be cancelled. <\/p>\n
\u201cThey should be acting under the character grounds under Section 501 of the Migration Act and Mr Thompson should be sent his marching orders back to New Zealand,\u201d Wallace told A Current Affair.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ronald Thompson denied he was well but was filmed enjoying a holiday, drink and smoke. Photo \/ A…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":322193,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1117,24812,1558,11586,12817,1874,4188,111,43,139,69,17699,90,22769,7680,27916,14446,19795,54946,54,80],"class_list":["post-322192","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-accused","tag-australias","tag-been","tag-coast","tag-declared","tag-found","tag-living","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-offender","tag-on","tag-ronald","tag-sex","tag-sick","tag-stand","tag-sunshine","tag-thompson","tag-trial","tag-zealand"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/322192","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=322192"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/322192\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/322193"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=322192"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=322192"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=322192"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}