The New Zealand Transport Agency has apologised for allowing a convicted child sex offender to become a school bus driver, putting the mistake down to serious human error.
Maurice William Cudby, 72, was sentenced to 12 years in jail by Justice Jillian Mallon in the High Court at Wanganui earlier this month, having pleaded guilty to six counts of sexual offending against a boy, occurring over nine years from 1998 to 2007.
Cudby had previously been convicted of 12 charges representing indecencies against seven girls, committed between 1977 and 1993 while he was principal and sole teacher at a rural school. For that offending, he received five years' imprisonment in 1993.
During Cudby's sentencing, it emerged that, following his 1993 conviction, he was mistakenly allowed to work as a school bus driver as recently as 2010.
In late 2009, Cudby, a former Wairarapa man, applied to requalify for a passenger endorsement on his licence, which would allow him to drive a bus, having previously had one while he worked as a principal.