A Napier-based Anglican minister has pleaded guilty to indecent assault charges.
John Hamilton Tovey, 64, pleaded guilty to two charges of indecent assault on females aged over 16, in Napier District Court this morning. The alleged offending occurred in Napier between April last year and January 2.
A third chargewas withdrawn. He was remanded on bail to be sentenced on September 17. Tovey was a vicar in Wainuiomata for more than 10 years before he moved to Hawke's Bay in 2010 to take up the associate priest role in the Taradale parish. He left the following year.
He was stripped of his "permission to officiate" in priestly duties when the church learned of the allegations against him.
He had earlier been a priest and youth pastor in Christchurch.
