KEY POINTS:
An Auckland school teacher accused of sex offences against seven teenage girls today denied all allegations made against him.
Heremia Smith, 30, formerly head of Maori studies at Glenfield College, gave evidence in his defence on the seventh day of his trial in Auckland District Court.
He faces one charge of sexual violation, 11 charges of indecent assault of a girl aged between 12 and 16, and two charges of sexual conduct with a person under 16.
The offences are alleged to have occurred between 2002 and 2005.
As defence lawyer Gary Gotlieb went through the allegations against him, Smith denied each one, adding that nothing untoward happened between him and the girls, six of whom were pupils at the college.
The girl who didn't attend the school is the complainant in four of the charges, including the most serious one of sexual violation.
Now 17, she gave evidence last week of events in Smith's bedroom one night in July 2004 when she was 13.
Smith agreed that the girl, whose parents were also staying at his house that night, had been in his room and the pair had talked for a while before she got into his bed.
However, Smith said the only reason she got into the bed was to go to sleep.
"I would definitely have kissed her goodnight and cuddled her and gone to sleep," he said.
Smith said he had expected his partner to be there that night as well, but she ended up not arriving back from out of town until the next morning.
In terms of his teaching, Smith was asked by Mr Gotlieb if he might at times have put himself in a vulnerable position.
He replied: "For mainstream, yes; for the learning I was doing, no."
He said the subjects he taught involved encompassing and learning about Maori protocol, and that meant an inclusive approach to students and their parents, and doing things for them outside school as needed.
His encouragement to pupils had included patting them on the back, cuddling the girls and giving a hongi to the boys.
In his opening address, Mr Gotlieb told jurors they might think some of the claims made by the claimants were incredulous.
He said the case was one of "he said, she said" and "here we have `he said, she said' seven versus one".
The witnesses the defence would call included parents and grandparents of other students, as well as students who were treated by Smith in the same way as the complainants "but had never felt anything but comfortable in his presence".
"Far from being a predator, he was a gentleman with them."
The trial is expected to continue until Thursday.
- NZPA
