Sex abuse: Teacher's registration cancelled

Raymond Melrose

The Teachers Disciplinary Tribunal has cancelled the registration of a former Northland principal who was convicted and jailed for sexually abusing two pre-teen boys.

Raymond George Melrose, 68, of Paihia, was last month jailed for two years and eight months for the abuse of two Auckland brothers in the 1960s and 1970s. One was aged between 11 and 16 at the time, the other aged 9 to 12.

Melrose was the principal of Kaikohe Christian School from 1997 until 2012, well after the abuse occurred.

Melrose pleaded guilty before the jury was impanelled for his trial in the Whangarei District Court in late August to one charge of indecently assaulting a boy between the age of 12 and 16, one of indecently assaulting a boy aged 9, one of an indecent act on a boy aged between 12 and 16, and one of inducing a boy aged between 12 and 16 to perform an indecent act.

Two were representative charges which means the offences occurred on more than one occasion, and his victims cannot be certain of the dates and times Melrose offended against them.

Melrose agreed with the tribunal the convictions were serious and warranted an adverse finding for which the appropriate penalty was cancellation of his registration.

The tribunal did not make any order for costs as Melrose was convicted in court. He did not make an application for name suppression.

Melrose was initially facing 13 charges, including four of sodomy with a male aged 12-16, three of indecent assault on a male aged 12-16, and one indecent assault on a boy under 12. He pleaded not guilty to all those charges in the Kaikohe District Court in November 2013 and opted for a jury trial.