Teacher Connor Taurapa Matthews grooming case: Education Minister to meet with Teaching Council over ‘misconduct’ at Rangi Ruru Girls’ School, Christchurch
Disgraced former teacher Taurapa in Cheviot on Friday. Photo / George Heard
Disgraced former teacher Taurapa in Cheviot on Friday. Photo / George Heard
The Minister of Education is set to meet with the Teaching Council to see if changes need to be made to its investigation process, following a Christchurch teacher’s “serious misconduct”.
Meanwhile, the disgraced teacher has no comment to make on the scandal.
On Friday, following a series of questions from the Herald, Education Minister Jan Tinetti said with consideration for the “safety of our students”, she had asked to meet with the Teaching Council to discuss “whether there are any changes needed to the investigation processes for teachers under investigation for misconduct”.
Taurapa declined to make any comment. Photo / George Heard
She said all children and young people “should be safe at school”.
“It is simply unacceptable for teachers to conduct any form of inappropriate behaviour.
“I encourage all children and young people to reach out to a trusted adult if they have any concerns about a teacher’s behaviour.”
On Friday, the Herald approached Taurapa as he got out of his black 2022 Tesla Model 3 in Cheviot. Asked for comment, Taurapa was silent and got back in his car and drove off.
On Tuesday, Christ’s College Board chairman Hugh Lindo told the Herald the school had appointed barrister Janna McGuigan to undertake an independent investigation of all aspects of Taurapa’s employment. This would include talking with those affected.
“I invite anyone who has further information to make direct contact with me so that I can facilitate their involvement in the investigation.
“Christ’s College should have initiated its own investigation into Taurapa’s behaviour as soon as we had been made aware of Ms Y’s complaint. He should have been suspended immediately and removed from the campus while an investigation was undertaken.
Helena Dray waived her name suppression after years of stigma and victim blaming. Photo / Instagram
“The decision not to investigate at the time is one of the matters that the independent investigation will be considering.”
Over the course of a year, Taurapa engaged in a relationship with the Year 12 student. Both Taurapa and the teenager were heavily involved in performing arts at the school.
Usually, the names of students in Teachers Disciplinary Tribunal cases are suppressed but in this case, Helena Dray asked the tribunal to waive her name suppression.
Dray and Taurapa would regularly communicate via social media as part of a te reo study group chat.
The content of the discussions between Taurapa and the other four students was innocuous to begin with, but Taurapa then began to message Dray directly.
The conversation became personalised and occurred outside of school hours. When Dray turned 16 in April 2018, Taurapa gifted her a writing journal containing a poem entitled Words of Love.
Around this time, Dray said Taurapa began to ask about sexualised topics, including masturbation.
Eventually, the pair spent time alone together. This first occurred in Taurapa’s Rangi Ruru classroom, watching a musical together on a bed of pillows and blankets in front of a projector.
Dray said it was there Taurapa “kissed me and felt me up, too”.
Over the following month of May, while working together on a musical production, Taurapa would meet Dray in dressing rooms, kissing and groping her.
Dray said one room in particular was chosen because of its lack of security cameras.
Taurapa would also offer to drop Dray home after rehearsals. He would hold her hand in the car and tell her to duck down if driving around town. He’d say goodbye with a kiss.
The actions left Dray feeling conflicted, used and emotionally drained, she told the tribunal.
Stuff hired Taurapa in July last year as a full-time te reo Māori translator. Photo / George Heard
While Dray said when it came to sex there appeared to be a line, such as Taurapa not coming to her house when invited, the pair discussed if “something further” should happen. The relationship eventually became sexual.
Sexual images were also shared, with Dray telling the tribunal Taurapa would send them on “multiple occasions, too many to count”.
Dray briefly agreed to a request from Taurapa to perform a sex act on camera, but she quickly declined to do anything further.
“Ms Dray says that throughout all of their involvement, Taurapa would often tell her to make sure she deleted her messages with him from her phone and for her to ‘not leave a trace’,” the tribunal’s decision said.
The relationship “fizzled out” in early 2019. Shortly before he resigned from Rangi Ruru, Dray tried to contact him but Taurapa said “my lawyer has told me not to contact you anymore”.
Dray said it had taken time to realise the effect the relationship had on her. She now has difficulty engaging with male authority figures and struggled to continue her te reo studies.
Taurapa was also engaged in “inappropriate messaging”, with a girl referred to as Ms Y.
Ms Y was 16 when he began messaging her, and it continued when she turned 17. Ms Y, who attended another high school, met him around late September to early October 2018 at Christ’s College.
During the 2018/19 summer holidays, Taurapa would ask Ms Y for pictures of her in a bikini. He was often topless in bed when they would Snapchat each other.
In February 2019, Ms Y’s boss received a complaint from her parents about Taurapa messaging her.
Taurapa was also spoken to about the complaint. He then messaged Ms Y asking her to delete all of the messages that she saved from their conversations. She obliged but did not delete all the screenshots she had saved. Taurapa said he would not be contacting her again.
In March 2019, concerns were forwarded from Christ’s College to Rangi Ruru.
On March 19, a meeting was held with Taurapa. During the meeting he denied ever meeting Dray outside of school, but said he had dropped her off after a rehearsal for a show as he did not want her to walk home in the dark.
Taurapa was invited to a disciplinary meeting on March 26, 2019, and resigned the next month.
Concerns were eventually also passed to police, who notified the Ministry of Education (MoE).
Taurapa in his initial response denied the allegations in relation to Dray, and said he had done nothing wrong.
He later accepted he’d engaged in serious misconduct and breached his professional obligations.
Taurapa chose not to engage in the tribunal process, other than filing a statement denying a romantic relationship occurred.
“We do not accept Taurapa’s denials,” the tribunal ruled. “The entire account of Ms Dray is found proven.
“This type of conduct strikes at the heart of the teacher-student relationship. It is at the most serious end of serious misconduct cases that come before the tribunal.”
Taurapa’s registration as a teacher was cancelled.
In a statement to the Herald, Dray said she asked the tribunal to waive her name suppression so she could shed light on the teacher that targeted her while she was his student in 2018.
“It took years for me to come forward due to the stigma and victim blaming that commonly surrounds these cases,” she said.
“He was aware of my vulnerability at the time. I believe his actions towards me were shameful and arrogant, and there should be no place for that in Aotearoa.”
Up until the tribunal’s decision was released on Monday, Taurapa had publicly enjoyed a successful career well within the media eye, including a podcast and translator role with Stuff, appearing in several news stories including one in Capital Mag where he claims to have worked for the government, the New Zealand Translation Center, 2020 General Election and Air New Zealand.
“It was difficult seeing Taurapa continue his career, especially in the media, although I held little doubt he would be let go from certain positions once this case was made public,” Dray said.
Dray said it had taken time to realise the effect the relationship had on her. She now has difficulty engaging with male authority figures and struggled to continue her te reo studies.
“I have been in therapy for years now due to these events and only recently came to the understanding that I hold no blame for what happened to me,” Dray said.
“I felt a distinct lack of concern for my well-being from the school,” Dray said.
When the tribunal decision was released, Taurapa was finally held accountable for his actions against Dray.
“I chose to waive name suppression as I have a name and I am a person. I fully respect that other victims have reasons for wanting to remain anonymous, and I want to emphasise that these reasons are completely valid and understandable, especially due to the stigma that commonly surrounds situations like this.
“For me personally, to be anonymous means to contribute to the narrative that victims’ actions are in some way shameful or contributory to their abuse. This is untrue, and harmful to victims, past, present, and future.
“If there is no name on the other end of these cases, it makes it harder to comprehend the impact these events have and allows perpetrators a level of detachment from the effects of their actions, giving them a continued unjust power over victims,” Dray said.
