Teacher found guilty of indecent act

The teacher at a top Auckland school denied the alleged incident took place. Photo / Thinkstock

A former teacher from an Auckland school has been found guilty of an indecent act, namely masturbating in a classroom.

His teaching certificate is under interim suspension and he is not currently teaching.

The man had been on trial at the Auckland District Court charged with committing an indecent act in a place the public have access to in June 2013.

He had denied masturbating but had conceded watching pornography in an empty classroom at lunchtime. When the court found he had been masturbating, he then disputed the classroom was a place to which the public had access.

Today, Judge Anne Kiernan found the classroom was indeed a place the public had access to, and found the man guilty.

The incident came to light after a student, wanting to speak to him about a timetable change, saw him through a window when a friend lifted him up to look inside the classroom.

Sitting before the judge alone earlier in the month, the court heard how the boy, now aged 17, had liked and respected the teacher prior to the incident.

Afterwards, he was left shocked and "never wanted to speak of it again", a friend said.

The boy gave evidence sitting just metres from the man. He was grilled extensively on the details by defence lawyer Richard Earwaker, who accused him of "making up a story for his mates".

However the judge found the boy was a truthful witness.

Others to give evidence included the school principal, a teacher, a teacher aide, an IT expert and police.

The school's head of IT said a server log showed that the teacher had been accessing Tumblr sites with various URLs.

The man is arguing for permanent name suppression.