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Allegations
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The teacher acquitted
this week of four counts of indecently assaulting schoolgirls in his care is
adamant he wants to return to the job but the wounds of the past 18 months
are raw. Officially Mike
Neville, 48, is still employed by a Mr Neville believes he
was unfairly treated by police who, he says, assumed his guilt before even
speaking with him last year, then ran a six-week publicity campaign to try to
draw out more victims. Surrounded by family
and friends at his home outside Levin yesterday, Mr Neville recalled the day
the "bombshell" hit. On June 24 last year,
his friend the school board chairman asked him to come back to the school. "They sat me down
in the principal's office and the chair said the police had been to visit.
There was an allegation of I think the term was sexual impropriety. "I couldn't speak
for a few minutes. I was just completely overwhelmed," said Mr Neville,
a teacher for the previous eight years at the same school. He was told the police
wanted the school to suspend him, but with no detail of what exactly he was
accused of, or by whom, it was not going to do that. Instead he was to tell
no one, apart from his wife, and report for work as usual the next day "I went home and
burst in through the door. I was just sobbing, trying to get out what had
happened." Over the next few weeks
the principal called the police regularly seeking updates. But nearly two
months went by before anything else happened. On August 11, the board
chairman rang him at home to tell him he was suspended from the next day. Passing on that advice
was the chairman's last official duty. He resigned from the board the next
day on the grounds that he was Mr Neville's friend, did not agree with what
was happening and wanted to support him. Sandra Moran, the A month later, on
September 9, he returned to work. By that stage rumours were rife in the
small school community. Later that month,
during the school holidays, he was rung at home by a CIB detective from Levin
wanting him to come into the police station to answer questions and make a
statement in response to what was alleged. On Miss Moran's advice,
he declined. She then rang the detective seeking details but was told
nothing. The next morning there
was a knock at the door and Mr Neville was arrested on three counts of
indecent assault of three different girls, all former pupils dating back to
1999. "I was just numb.
[His wife] Adele was hysterical. I was in my dressing gown. They came into my
bedroom and watched me get dressed, do my ablutions." Mr Neville says the
detective tried to play both good cop and bad cop. "One minute it was
'We know you're a nice guy, just tell us about it', the next it was 'We know
you've done it, you're just a dirty paedophile'. "There was no
videotaping, no recording, he just wrote down what he said he asked me and
what I said, which was, 'I have no comment to make'." He was driven to
Palmerston North, where the charges were laid. Miss Moran won suppression of
his name and occupation and he was granted bail About a month later
police laid a fourth charge and at a subsequent court appearance name
suppression was lifted. The charges meant he
could talk openly to family and friends and he found everyone supportive. "We never heard
any adverse reaction. It actually drew us closer to some people [in the
school community] we hardly knew before." But the lifting of the
name suppression allowed police to publicly seek more complainants through
newspapers and radio broadcasts publicising an 0800
number for potential victims to call. That aspect of the
police investigation in particular still troubles Mr Neville. "Their
reason was that there could have been children scattered throughout NZ. It
was bollocks." However, no further
charges were laid. The trial began a fortnight ago and finished on Thursday
with not guilty verdicts on all counts. Scenes of jubilation outside the
Palmerston North courthouse continued long into the night at Mike and Adele
Neville's home. Mr Neville said that during the trial, as the complainants
gave evidence of his fondling them and touching their genitals, he tried to
stay composed and listen and put aside fears that the verdicts would go
against him. He had "no
idea" what the complainants thought or what motivated them and preferred
not to speculate. "Inwardly I knew
my innocence so I had to believe that justice would come out but when you're
dealing with a jury system you've got 12 people who've never spoken to me,
don't know me, your fate's in their hands." His
immediate plans are to take a break but he also wants to discuss with lawyers
a complaint about the police handling of the case. The monetary costs have
been substantial but mostly covered by the union, for which he is profoundly
grateful, but they pale in comparison to the emotional cost. He has been amazed and
heartened at the level of support. "I won't let
myself feel resentful or bitter or angry. "They're emotions
that eat at you and my nature is such that I'm not that sort of person." |
