Today they represented themselves in the Whakat\u0101ne District Court, where they stood together in the dock to be sentenced.<\/p>\n
Their children were not present.<\/p>\n
When Community Magistrate Sherida Cooper asked if they wished to say anything they declined.<\/p>\n
Crown prosecutor Georgina Ellison said the Ministry of Education sought a starting point of a $2000 fine for each parent.<\/p>\n
She said aggravating features were the number of children affected, the prolonged nature of the offending, the lack of engagement from the parents and the children\u2019s age. <\/p>\n
Ellison said a reduction of 20% for their guilty plea was appropriate.<\/p>\n
Since pleading guilty, the teens had been re-enrolled in school, therefore Ellison said a further 5% discount would be appropriate, bringing the total fine to $1500 per parent.<\/p>\n
Cooper agreed and fined them $1500 and $152 court costs each.<\/p>\n
She said the teens were at a \u201cvulnerable age\u201d and had \u201cnot had the privilege\u201d to attend school.<\/p>\n
She said the court did \u201cnot have much to consider\u201d as the couple had not explained why the children were not attending school.<\/p>\n
They were granted permanent name suppression to protect their children\u2019s identities.<\/p>\n
According to the summary of facts, the young teens were enrolled at a primary school, but their attendance had declined since Covid-19.<\/p>\n
In 2021, the children were removed from their school roll for continuous absence, but no exemption to home school was obtained, and they remained off any school roll until April 2024.<\/p>\n
The Ministry of Education sent warning letters to the parents throughout 2022 and 2023, telling them the children were required to attend school.<\/p>\n
In 2022 the mother advised Attendance Services<\/a> in her area that she and her children would not be engaging.<\/p>\n In April 2024, the children were enrolled in Te Kura, a national school that provides distance learning programmes.<\/p>\n By December 2024, they\u2019d been unenrolled after Te Kura received no contact from the family.<\/p>\n On October 7, 2025, Attendance Service sent a further letter to the couple, explaining they\u2019d tried \u201cmultiple interventions\u201d to support them.<\/p>\n Unless the children\u2019s attendance improved \u201csignificantly\u201d, there would be a \u201cprosecution case\u201d against them, the letter said.<\/p>\n Less than 10 days later the Ministry of Education sent another letter confirming it would be investigating under section 243 of the Education and Training Act 2020.<\/p>\n