Leonard Cave appears in the High Court at Auckland for sentencing on August 12. Photo / Michael Craig
Leonard Cave appears in the High Court at Auckland for sentencing on August 12. Photo / Michael Craig
It can now be revealed that a former Dilworth teacher sentenced last week to eight years' prison for historic sex abuse of students was also facing charges in another court, accused of more recently being in possession of graphic child exploitation images.
Prosecutors decided this week to withdraw the four counts of possession of objectionable publications against Leonard Cave in the Auckland District Court due to the lengthy sentence the 75-year-old already received last week in the High Court at Auckland.
Although Cave has not had name suppression for the Dilworth charges since last November, the case concerning the child exploitation images charges was previously suppressed to preserve his fair trial rights.
Authorities alleged the Whanganui resident was in possession of all four images in September 2020, around the time he was charged with the Dilworth offences. But the charges weren't filed until earlier this year, and not guilty pleas were entered in February.
The charges could have carried a maximum possible sentence of 10 years' prison.
Former Dilworth music teacher Leonard Cave was sentenced last week to eight years' prison. Photo / Supplied
The former music teacher was convicted by a jury in June of abusing students at Dilworth School in Remuera and St Paul's Collegiate in Hamilton over a span of five decades. In total, he was convicted of 11 charges of historic offending that included indecent assault, indecency between males, sexual violation, and supplying cannabis and LSD to students.
He issued a partial apology to some of his victims last week during his sentencing, stating that he feels "dreadful" for having misunderstood what he "somehow imagined ... had been a mutual adventure". But he was also chastised after Justice Mary Peters noted he continued to downplay his crimes by characterising them as the result of "clowning and horsing around" at a time when he was "immature and stupid".
One of the students was victimised, the judge pointed out, when Cave would have been in his 50s.
Cave had used his career "as a vehicle to prey on young men", prosecutor Jacob Barry told jurors at the end of the trial, pointing out that all six complainants knew him through a teaching relationship.
Among those who testified against Cave at trial was a former Dilworth student who recounted the teacher grabbing his crotch near the school's chapel in the early 1970s. He said he complained to the principal at the time but no action was taken.
Leonard Cave arrives at Auckland District Court in October 2020 to face historic sex abuse charges. Photo / Michael Craig
Cave left the school to travel abroad but was rehired as head of the music department in 1975 and remained there for the next 10 years. In that role, he was accused by four boys of sexual abuse during visits to his bach on Waiheke Island.
The fourth boy told his mother about the abuse in 1985, and she reported it to Dilworth. Cave left the school soon after, though it was never referred to police.
Cave went on to teach at St Paul's Collegiate, where he was accused of abusing a student there. The student reported it to police in 2012 and an investigation was started but to no avail.
Cave wasn't arrested until the conclusion of Operation Beverly in 2020. The police investigation followed an internal inquiry by Dilworth after it was alerted to historic abuse by a former student.
In all, 12 people associated with Dilworth School have been accused of sexual offending between the 1970s and 2000s. Three of the accused have died, and several others have since pleaded guilty. Cave's case was the first to go to trial.
