Appeal dismissed for Northland teacher convicted of sexual abuse

CYF caregiver Taite Hemi Kupa sentenced for abusing vulnerable kids in his care. Photo / Northern Advocate

A Northland teacher convicted of sexually abusing two girls and physically abusing six children placed in his care by Child Youth and Family has had an appeal against his conviction dismissed.

Taite Hemi Kupa, 57, was sentenced in the High Court at Whangarei to 14 years and six months' jail last June, after being found guilty by a jury on three counts of rape, six of unlawful sexual connection and one each of attempted rape and attempted unlawful sexual connection.

The sex convictions relate to two teenage girls.

He was also sentenced on nine counts of assault on a child aged under 14 and one of assault on a female.

The offending happened between August 2011 and February 2013 at a Child Youth and Family (CYF) home Kupa and his wife were in charge of.

While Kupa admitted to striking the children by kicking their bottoms and pinching their ears, he said it was necessary for "disciplinary purposes".

All the children accepted that Kupa hit them to control bad behaviour.

The Crown also alleged that Kupa sexually violated two young females.Kupa has since filed an appeal against his conviction, but not his sentence, with the Court of Appeal.

This was on the grounds that trial counsel made a radical error in failing to apply to sever the trial of the sexual charges from the assault charges.

He also appealed on the ground that the judge erred in failing to exclude prejudical and inadmissible evidence of the physical assaults being heard together with the sexual charges.

His defence lawyer, Lester Cordwell, emphasised that Kupa was acquitted on two counts of unlawful sexual connection, and said neither of the young girls complained about the sexual offending, when they complained about the physical assaults.

In its decision released today, the Court of Appeal said during his trial, Kupa was forced to defend charges of assault on vulnerable children in the same trial in which he was accused of sexually violating two of the same children.

It said the "level of violence prevailing within the household" was relevant evidence to the sex charges.

"We are satisfied that the evidence of Mr Kupa's violence towards all complainants, occurring at or around the time of his sexual offending against the two girls, was directly relevant in this context."

The Court of Appeal also said the judge properly directed the jury about the admissibility of the evidence on two sets of charges.

"We are satisfied that the judge correctly directed the jury to consider only the evidence relevant to each charge when emphasising that Mr Kupa faced separate trials on each.

"We are not satisfied that Mr Kupa's trial miscarried."Kupa's appeal against his conviction was dismissed.

Kupa's appeal against his conviction was dismissed.