KEY POINTS:
A youth trust run by former league star Tea Ropati has been weakened by the sex case brought against him, an employee says.
"It will never be back to normal, regardless of what happens," Catherine Manning, of the Koru Trust 2002 project, told the Weekend Herald.
"We are having to work a lot harder [to get funding] ... Tea has not had a public face since this has all been going on."
Ropati, a former Warriors and Kiwis rugby league star, was acquitted on Thursday of six sex charges, including rape and sodomy.
In a statement, the 43-year-old spoke of his love for youth work - which he has been involved in for 10 years - but admitted also a need to address "ongoing issues" with alcohol.
To that end, he returned to the Auckland District Court yesterday to answer a drink-driving charge from New Year's Day.
He was disqualified from driving for six months and fined $620 after admitting driving with a breath-alcohol level more than twice the legal limit. Until his arrest for the alleged 2006 offending, Ropati was a director and public face of the Koru Trust 2002, using his clout with celebrities such as league stars Stacy Jones and Tawera Nikau to attract mentors for at-risk youngsters.
It was also Ropati who did most to raise about $250,000 in Government funding, Ms Manning said.
He is understood to be paid about $80,000 of that in salary. The trust has dealt with about 8000 young people.
However, Ms Manning said, the Social Development Ministry and Child, Youth and Family were now being "a lot more cautious" in dishing out funding, and the sex case had forced Ropati to take "a background support role".
The adverse effect on the Koru Trust - and the children it served - was cited by Judge Mike Lance as the rationale behind a name suppression order that lasted until the start of the trial.
