By Jeremy Wilkinson, Open Justice reporter of 
The teacher disguised himself as a drug dealer and tricked a student into performing sex with him in exchange for cannabis. File picture. Photo: wollertz 201/ 123rf
- A Wellington teacher disguised himself as a drug dealer to exploit a 14-year-old girl.
- He pleaded guilty to unlawful sexual communication and was sentenced to nine months' home detention.
- The Teachers Disciplinary Tribunal has now cancelled his registration, citing serious misconduct and emotional abuse.
A teacher disguised himself as a drug dealer and tricked a 14-year-old girl into performing oral sex on him in exchange for cannabis.
The man, whose name is suppressed along with his victim, was a teacher at a school in Wellington when his relationship with his student escalated to them leaving school to have lunch and then messaging one another on Facebook.
Soon, the teacher offered to supply the girl with free cannabis and met her at a bus stop in Upper Hutt where he gave her 3g of the Class C substance.
A few days later, the girl contacted her teacher and asked for more of the drug, but he said he was out of town and his friend "Joseph" could help her out.
But it was the girl's teacher who actually turned up to that meeting wearing a black jacket, sweatpants, gumboots and a beanie but also with a black T-shirt wrapped around his face, meaning only his eyes were visible and told the student he was the teacher's friend Joseph before giving her more cannabis.
There was further messaging between the pair where the teacher claimed that "Joseph" wanted to give her more cannabis, in exchange for oral sex.
Another meeting was arranged at a local school and the teacher again arrived disguised as the fictitious Joseph where he said she could have three bags of cannabis and $100 cash if she performed oral sex on him.
The girl accepted the offer and gave the man, whom she didn't know was her teacher, oral sex for about 30 seconds before telling him she felt like she was going to throw up.
A month later, the teacher contacted the girl again on Facebook under a fake profile called "Joseph Porter" and asked to meet with her again at the same location, this time requesting sex in exchange for cannabis and cash.
In August 2022 the man pleaded guilty to unlawful sexual communication with a young person, indecent communication and supply for a Class C drug in the Wellington District Court. In October the same year he was sentenced to nine months' home detention, but granted permanent name suppression by the court.
While the teacher signed a voluntary undertaking not to teach in 2020 while police investigated the incidents, following his conviction and sentence the Teachers Disciplinary Tribunal were notified and held a hearing last year where it cancelled his registration for good.
The teacher did not attend that hearing but sent the panel submissions, which explained the context of his behaviour. However, the tribunal did not detail them in its ruling which was publicly released this week.
"We do not need to consider these issues in any great depth as sexual offending against a student clearly satisfies all of the suggested criteria and is clearly serious misconduct," the tribunal's ruling reads.
"The actual and potential impact on [the student] is obvious. Any teacher who behaves in that way is not fit to be a teacher and members of the public would rightly conclude that the teaching profession was undermined and discredited by such behaviour.
"Further it is emotionally abusive, breaches clear professional boundaries and is serious criminal behaviour."
* This story originally appeared in the New Zealand Herald.
