A former teacher at Auckland's Hato Petera College, who is HIV-positive, has been sentenced to 3 1/2 years in prison on charges of indecent assault and sexual violation of male students.
Kaperiere Petera Leef, aged 45, the former head of religious studies, pleaded guilty to five representative charges of indecent assault involving five boys aged between 13 and 15.
He also pleaded guilty to one charge of sexual violation by unlawful sexual connection.
The charges relate to incidents between July 1999 and November 2000, when Leef touched boys' genitals, rubbed their bodies and tried to have oral sex with a boy.
A social studies and Maori language teacher, Leef was also a dormitory "parent" - which meant he stayed the night supervising 10 boys. He managed the junior basketball team, and was the dean responsible for supervising fourth-form students and liaising with their families.
In the High Court in Auckland, Justice Potter noted that Leef knew he was HIV-positive when he committed the offences. She said he had demonstrated a breach of trust of the grossest kind.
Teacher sent to prison for sex offences
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