Judge reserves decision whether to name guilty teacher

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A judge has reserved her decision into whether a former teacher found guilty of masturbating in a classroom will be named.

The Herald petitioned against the suppression in a hearing in front of Justice Ailsa Duffy at the High Court in Auckland today, on the grounds naming the man was in the public interest.

Reasons as to why the man wants his name kept secret are suppressed. The school does not support the man's desire to continue suppression.

The man was found guilty last month of committing an indecent act in a classroom at the school during lunchtime in June 2013.

His teaching certificate is under interim suspension and he is not currently teaching, stepping down when the incident was disclosed.

He had denied masturbating but had conceded watching pornography in an empty classroom at lunchtime. When the court found he had been masturbating, he then disputed that the classroom was a place to which the public had access.

Judge Anne Kiernan then found the classroom was indeed a place that the public had access to, and found the man guilty.

She today sentenced him to nine months supervision, counselling or treatment as appropriate and 80 hours community work.

The incident came to light after a student wanting to speak to him about a timetable change viewed him through a window, when a friend lifted him up to look inside the classroom.

Sitting before the judge alone last month, the court heard how the boy, now aged 17, had liked and respected the teacher prior to the incident.

Afterwards, he was left shocked and "never wanted to speak of it again", a friend said.