Sex abuse teachers - five struck off

Source / Herald Graphic

Five teachers have been banned from the profession this year after being caught sexually abusing children.

The cases involve students aged between 7 and 16 - some of whom were lured back to teachers' homes and forced to perform sexual acts.

All the cases have been before the courts, and were then dealt with by the Teachers Council's disciplinary tribunal.

Some of the victims were from the teachers' classrooms or schools, but in one case a 29-year-old got one of his victim's names from a friend.

He spoke to the 13-year-old girl on the phone and by text before meeting her and her friend at a bus stop.

The girls were taken back to his apartment where he tried to kiss one of the girls. One of the girls was forced to perform oral sex.

Details of the sexual offending have been revealed by the tribunal, which has issued nine decisions this year after disciplinary hearings.

Five decisions related to sexual abuse, a figure well above the usual one or two cases a year.

In another case just released, the teacher was sentenced to five years and five months in jail after being convicted on sexual charges against boys aged between 12 and 16.

Another involved historical offending against seven boys who were aged between seven and 12 at the time. In that case the boys were abused at school and during extracurricular activities.

The teacher is serving a four years and nine months jail sentence.

In other tribunal decisions, one teacher has been censured for serious misconduct after physically and verbally abusing students.

The teacher, who punched one girl in the arm and hit others with rulers and textbooks, referred to his students as "stupid," "dumb," "idiot," and "mentally disturbed".

Two other cases related to benefit fraud and one related to former Auckland teacher Rachel Whitwell who posed nude in Penthouse.

Ms Whitwell said she had done nothing illegal, but was deregistered after the tribunal found her actions constituted serious misconduct. The 28-year-old is appealing against the decision.