Survivor who was sexually groomed by teacher says official figures ‘severely under-reported’

By RNZ

Warning: This story contains details that may be distressing

There have been almost 150 reports of inappropriate sexual relationships between teachers and students in schools in the last six years.

Figures released under the Official Information Act show that out of 148 reports, so far 21 teachers have had their registrations cancelled.

Helena Dray was 16 years old when she was groomed by her teacher Taurapa at Rangi Ruru School in Christchurch.

The first time they met outside of school hours he created a space in a classroom with pillows and blankets and groped her while they watched a movie.

Other incidents include him sending nude images to her and taking her to areas of the school with no security cameras to kiss and grope her.

Over time, everything started to take a huge mental and emotional toll on Dray.

“I was coerced into sending explicit images and videos as well as eventually being pressured into performing sexual acts in person, this was presented to me as sort of a secret relationship.

“I was unstable, severely depressed, and at one point attempted to take my own life due to the extreme mental and emotional trauma,” Dray said.

Now 21, she broke her silence earlier this year by waiving her name suppression in a high-profile court case because she wanted to reclaim her power from her perpetrator.

After doing so she was overwhelmed with messages from other students speaking up about similar experiences.

She said the current numbers of inappropriate sexual relationships between teachers and students were far greater than what is recorded and stretches out to other school staff.

“I definitely know that this is severely under-reported and I believe that’s probably to do with the victim-blaming mentality and making people believe that it wasn’t a big deal or it was their fault that they couldn’t come forward,” Dray said.

Independent victim advocate Ruth Money agrees.

“We think that only 10 to 20 per cent of sexual violence is disclosed, then they’re the numbers we need to extrapolate these numbers out by and also it will be different by geographical region, it will certainly also be different by gender,” Money said.

She said males were more vulnerable and less likely to disclose because of societal stigma.

“It’s not their shame but that is where society puts it, we don’t talk about these things openly so people from a male gender orientation or the rainbow community find it very difficult to disclose safely and go through that process,” Money said.

Secondary Principals Association president and Papatoetoe High School principal Vaughan Couillault has dealt with a handful of these cases in his 25-year career.

He thought the numbers were low considering 65 others had no further action taken, which he said makes them innocent until proven guilty.

“So it could be that the case was fully investigated and found not to be correct, could have been vexatious, could have been lack of evidence, could have been a person withdrawing the complaint. It could be any combination of those things. But the bottom line is, there was either a lack of willingness from one end, lack of evidence or indeed it didn’t happen,” Couillault said.

In the last financial year the figures also dipped down from 22 reports to just six.

“Either the message has got across very clearly and we’re doing a great job in terms of inducting new teachers and looking after our workforce, in terms of them doing the right thing or there’s been a drop-off in reporting for whatever reasons but I’m hoping, I think we’re doing a better job of making sure those things don’t happen,” Couillault said.

The Teaching Council in a statement said some of the matters were still ongoing and yet to have an outcome.

It noted the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care and the Dilworth Independent Inquiry has seen more people come forward with historical matters.