KEY POINTS:
A former school principal who admitted sexually abusing boys, including at a school camp and in the school sick bay, was jailed for five years today.
Murray Stewart Hebberd, 64, pleaded guilty in Nelson District Court last month to six charges of indecently assaulting boys aged between 11 and 13 over a nine-year period.
He admitted another charge when he appeared in the dock this morning.
The name of the school was suppressed to protect the identity of the victims.
The court was told earlier that Hebberd's first victim was 12 when he went on a three-day school camp. He was lying on a bed when Hebberd fondled his genitals.
He also indecently assaulted the boy six to eight times on a bed in the school sick bay.
Another victim, aged between 12 and 13, was given permission to use the school computer outside school hours two or three times a week.
Hebberd talked to the boy about puberty while he used the computer, and pulled his pants down so he could touch his genitals.
He also gave the boy pornographic magazines.
Police said Hebberd also indecently assaulted two other boys while they worked on a project in the school computer room.
The final victim was a 12-year-old boy who was indecently assaulted once or twice a week.
Judge David McKegg told Hebberd he had "traded on his authority" as principal with his offending.
There was a "sad and sinister" similarity between the offences he committed, the judge said.
"It is harder to imagine a case of this sort that involved a greater breach of trust."
Crown Prosecutor Craig Stevenson said Hebberd had shown no remorse for his offending, but this was denied by defence lawyer John Sandston, who said Hebberd had accepted what he had done was wrong.
Mr Sandston said Hebberd had told him last night that he "had done a lot of good and done a lot of harm".
Mr Stevenson said some victims were left feeling angry and humiliated, had problems with their own relationships or had turned to illegal drugs.
Judge McKegg said Hebberd's offending could put off men considering teaching as a career.
Hebberd is no longer registered as a teacher.
- NZPA
