Hawkes Bay Today
  • Hawke's Bay Today home
  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology

Locations

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Havelock North
  • Central Hawke's Bay
  • Tararua

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Dannevirke
  • Gisborne

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Hawkes Bay Today

Editorial: Protect vulnerable from abuse

By Andrew Austin
Hawkes Bay Today·
13 Nov, 2014 08:00 PM2 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Christopher King. Photo / Paul Taylor

Christopher King. Photo / Paul Taylor

Chris King is one of the worst kind of sexual predators you can get.

As a St John ambulance officer he used the instant trust that organisation engenders to prey on women who were in very vulnerable emotional states.

King was yesterday found guilty in the High Court at Napier to eight counts of sexual assault of four women. He had denied all the charges.

One of his victims was a 15-year-old girl who made a traumatised call to the 111 emergency number after her boyfriend had beaten her. Little did she realise that the worst part of her day was still to come. She was not the only victim who was in a traumatised state and needed the professional care of a trained medic, instead of a sexual deviant who preyed on those in need. His other three victims were a woman suffering depression and threatening to harm herself, a young woman with a terminal illness, and a woman who suffers from temporary paralyses.

It beggars belief that a man who was trained to look after sick people would betray them and the organisation he worked for in such a vile way.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

St John runs a wonderful service in the Bay and the sick actions of a criminal like King should in no way detract from the good work that the organisation does.Your heart goes out to those poor women who were already suffering before King got hold of them. Let's hope they are able to find a way out of the hell they will have been going through.

We can all learn from cases like this. We need to ensure that all organisations or clubs or services that deal with the young, the old and the vulnerable, get robust systems in place to ensure that abusers and molesters do not get into positions of trust where they can commit their crimes.

Discover more

New Zealand

'Unluckiest ambulance officer' in NZ

12 Nov 01:20 AM

Officer fails to convince jury

13 Nov 07:45 PM

Editorial: Wild wind big blow for everyone

16 Nov 08:00 PM

Editorial: Tribute to a life of service

17 Nov 08:00 PM
Save

    Share this article

Latest from Hawkes Bay Today

Hawkes Bay Today

Taradale and Pirate set sail for Hawke's Bay club rugby final

05 Jul 11:55 PM
Premium
Hawkes Bay Today

Couple behind lauded cocktail bar call it a day: 'I don’t think people are prioritising social lives'

05 Jul 06:00 PM
Hawkes Bay Today

Flaxmere Woolworths site work begins, supermarket built by mid-2026

05 Jul 06:00 PM

There’s more to Hawai‘i than beaches and buffets – here’s how to see it differently

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Hawkes Bay Today

Taradale and Pirate set sail for Hawke's Bay club rugby final

Taradale and Pirate set sail for Hawke's Bay club rugby final

05 Jul 11:55 PM

Dominant first halves were the difference, with Maddison Trophy final spots on the line.

Premium
Couple behind lauded cocktail bar call it a day: 'I don’t think people are prioritising social lives'

Couple behind lauded cocktail bar call it a day: 'I don’t think people are prioritising social lives'

05 Jul 06:00 PM
Flaxmere Woolworths site work begins, supermarket built by mid-2026

Flaxmere Woolworths site work begins, supermarket built by mid-2026

05 Jul 06:00 PM
Premium
End of swimming pool weeds: Family's delight as cyclone-hit home gets green light

End of swimming pool weeds: Family's delight as cyclone-hit home gets green light

04 Jul 06:00 PM
From early mornings to easy living
sponsored

From early mornings to easy living

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Hawke's Bay Today e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Hawke's Bay Today
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • NZME Events
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP