Hawke’s Bay school staff member appears in court on indecency charges

The man appeared before a registrar in the Hastings District Court on Monday. Photo / NZME

A staff member of a Hawke’s Bay school was told to surrender his passport when he appeared in court on Tuesday on five indecency charges involving boys.

The man appeared before a registrar at the Hastings District Court and was remanded on bail without plea to appear in the same court again on July 2.

His bail conditions included not to contact the complainants, not to have contact with anyone under the age of 18, not to travel out of New Zealand and to surrender his passport to the court immediately.

Charge sheets filed in the court allege five acts of indecency involving three complainants aged 10 to 12, covering the period April 2022 to April 2024.

The man was granted interim name suppression until the next court appearance.

A parent told NZME that the school emailed families on Friday to inform them that a staff member had been arrested in relation to an incident which happened at the school.

The email said the students and families involved were receiving support.

Police said earlier that the man had been taken into custody on Friday.

Ric Stevens spent many years working for the former New Zealand Press Association news agency, including as a political reporter at Parliament, before holding senior positions at various daily newspapers. He joined NZME's Open Justice team in 2022 and is based in Hawke's Bay. His writing in the crime and justice sphere is informed by four years of front-line experience as a probation officer.