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Allegations
of Sexual Abuse |
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Police pleaded with a
judge today to allow the media to name a Lawyers acting for
police told Judge Merelina Burnett they wanted the
order suppressing his name and the school where he taught lifted to alert a
potential "vast pool" of victims. The 37-year-old man
reappeared today in Hamilton District Court on seven indecent assault charges
against boys aged under 12. He first appeared last
week on one indecent assault charge involving a boy aged 11. One of the charges laid
today dates back to 1991. Today's court
appearance was dominated by arguments from lawyers about name suppression. Judge Burnett was
expected to make a decision on the suppression order later today. She heard
submissions from police and defence lawyers for about 40 minutes this
morning. Ross Douch, for police, said the suppression order should be
lifted so other victims could come forward. He said the pool of potential
victims was vast because of the length of time the man had been teaching in
the city. He said the suppression
order was casting a shadow over the city, schools and teachers. The man's lawyer, Mark
Hammond, wanted the suppression order continued until next week when the man
is due to appear again. Mr Hammond said the
press were entitled to publish the fact that his client had been suspended
from the school. This would remove any suspicion from teachers still working.
Judge Burnett said
other teachers suffered guilt by association because the public do not know
which teachers are suspended. She said former pupils would have no way of
knowing that their former teacher had been suspended. Mr Hammond said the man
was now out of the education system. This removed any possibility for him to
be in the company of school children. A condition of his bail was that he
could not go near any schools in the Mr Hammond said his
client had had already denied the charges in a statement he made to police
and would plead not guilty. He had yet to receive
information from police on the six fresh charges. |
