Matawai school principal sentenced for theft and forgery offences

Matawai School, where former principal Glenn Knight committed 25 counts of theft and three of forgery.

A principal who stole from Matawai School over three years has been sentenced to eight months home detention.

Glenn Ross Knight, 43, had destroyed the values of the school and the community with “manipulation and blatant dishonesty’', school administrator Tara Hunt told Gisborne District Court at his sentencing on Wednesday.

Knight pleaded guilty to 25 counts of theft by a person in a special relationship and three counts of forgery.

Judge Warren Cathcart said Knight used his position over three years to buy items or vouchers using the school’s accounts.

Some of the items were used as gifts.

The forgery charges related to faking the signature of then-board chair Hunt to claim expenses.

Hunt, now the school administrator, said in the school’s victim impact report that Knight “shattered the foundation of trust on which our community is built”.

“Glenn exploited school finances for his own personal gain, callously disregarding the wellbeing of our students and staff.

“He planted seeds of uncertainty in people’s minds, fuelled by lies and baseless accusations, attempting to conceal his wrongdoing by falsely accusing innocent members of our school community, which is callous.”

Since 2020, the school’s bank accounts had not been audited.

The school of 53 students was unable to apply for normal rounds of funding

“He has also tarnished our local identity,” Hunt said.

Crown prosecutor Amanda Bryant said there was a breach of trust at a very high level against the board of trustees, the school and a small, rural community.

The offending occurred over three years. There was no momentary lapse of judgement.

Knight could not attribute his offending to financial hardship as money was spent on expensive items such as computers, headphones and surfboards, she said.

The amount stolen that could be quantified was $17,442.20, and $7000 was still outstanding.

Cathcart said he was troubled that the case had taken so long to resolve and there was an impression of delaying the inevitable.

Knight originally pleaded not guilty and sought a jury trial.

He had long been under interim name suppression.

He had sought a handwriting expert, but later pleaded guilty to forgery by faking signatures.

Knight’s offending could only be attributed to greed, the judge said.

He had no previous convictions and had fallen significantly from grace.

He lacked insight and could not receive any discount in sentencing for remorse.

Knight was also ordered to pay reparation of $8197.37, which included reimbursement for the school’s insurance excess.

Interim name suppression was lifted.

Knight will serve his home detention at an address outside of Gisborne.