Victims seek justice against runaway abuser

Stanley Bryan George Gray. Photo / Supplied

A former children's home supervisor convicted of sexually abusing a young girl in his care has escaped a jail sentence by fleeing to England.

Victims of Stanley Bryan George Gray are furious that police have not tried to bring him back to face justice in the nine months since he was found guilty.

But following Weekend Herald inquiries, police say a decision on extradition is now likely within a few weeks.

Gray was convicted last September on charges of indecent assault and doing an indecent act on a 10-year-old girl at the Department of Social Welfare home he ran on the North Shore in the early 1980s.

Two other girls gave supporting evidence that he sexually abused them, including several instances of rape.

Gray fled the country four months before his trial, but kept replying to legal letters from overseas to make it look as if he was still in New Zealand.

The trial went ahead without him after Judge Christopher Field ruled the charges were sufficiently serious to justify such an unusual step.

Jurors heard that Gray, an ex-British Army man described by one of his victims as "short, stocky and tubby with beady eyes", indecently touched 10-year-old Maria Krechko in her bed at night.

They also heard that he frequently abused 10-year-old Melissa Koti, including three cases of rape, and that he indecently touched 15-year-old Sarah (not her real name).

Sarah told the court that Gray drugged her and tried to rape her one afternoon but was interrupted by two other girls who came home from school and banged loudly on the locked doors and windows.

Maria and Melissa have waived their legal right to name suppression as sex abuse victims because they want to speak out publicly against Gray and encourage other victims to come forward.

Melissa said she was convinced Gray would have abused other girls in his care.

She told the Weekend Herald he tracked her down years after the abuse, came to her home when she was out and left old photos of her as a young girl with her neighbour.

Maria said she wanted to go public to show other victims of sexual abuse they had nothing to be ashamed of - and to prove a point to her abuser.

"If I can put myself out there then someone else can put themselves out there and say 'This happened to me. I'm not going to fade away.'

"And I want him to know that I'm not scared of him any more. I'm not a little child any more."

Maria, who was abused twice in foster care, said it took her years to learn to trust anyone again.

She did not make a complaint until her first husband, who died of a brain tumour in 2003, made her promise to tackle the issue once and for all.

Four months after his death, she walked into a police station to tell her story. It took five years and three trials - including a hung jury and a not guilty verdict on charges relating to Melissa and Sarah - to find Gray guilty, but she remains angry that police have not brought him back to face a prison sentence.

"I'd be very disheartened if he wasn't brought to justice ... I think if you commit a crime you should be punished for that crime."

Waitemata district crime manager Detective Inspector Bruce Scott said he believed Gray should be extradited.

He would send the file to the police's national criminal investigations manager in Wellington next week and a decision was likely soon.

The Ministry of Social Development, which has received a compensation claim from Melissa Koti, said it would thoroughly investigate her claims and any others against Gray.

Care claims and resolution national manager Garth Young said that until then he could not comment on why the former Social Welfare Department did not take any action over his abuse.