A member of the Kaitaia Child Protection Team has defended the course of action police took in 2009 when an allegation was first made about James Parker sexually assaulting boys.
At a press conference held after the sentencing of the former deputy principal of Pamapuria School, Detective Mark Dalzell said a boy had told police his complaint was a lie, removing any chance of the police having evidence to form an investigation.
It came to light in the press conference that police discovered the original complaint was withdrawn after Parker had interactions with the boy before the interview.
Mr Dalzell said the officer in charge of the investigation interviewed James Parker "robustly and at length" and the allegations were denied. It was disappointing that Parker wasn't arrested earlier but police followed every avenue they could.
He said the difference between the 2009 allegations and the 2012 allegations was the "absolute courage" of one boy who told police what Parker was doing.
"We still faced the challenges in 2012 that we faced in 2009, and that was to win the trust and confidence of our boys, making them feel comfortable enough to talk to us, and once we did that we got our evidence."
Concerns were raised in 1998 about behaviour exhibited by Parker that was considered inappropriate; however no formal complaint was laid with police.
Child, Youth and Family Te Tai Tokerau regional director Marion Heeney said it was clear to see the impact Parker's offending had had on the victims.
"Shame, anger, lack of trust, and that's manifesting itself in some behaviours that those boys are displaying, quite understandably so.
"But you also saw today in court a lot of courage and a lot of mana from those boys and I think if we can support them as a community and get the right interventions in place for them they'll be okay," she said.