His sex past splits village

By Dylan Thorne and Kathryn Powley A convicted paedophile is dividing the tiny Northland community of Panguru.
Former teacher Kaperiere Leef, who is HIV positive, was convicted in 2001 of sexually assaulting boys at Auckland's Hato Petera College and has lived in Panguru since his release from prison in 2003.
Although he was welcomed onto Ngati Manawa Marae when he got out of jail, his actions since - including involvement in an ongoing Maori Land Court case - have caused ructions in the Hokianga village, 25km south-west of Kohukohu.
Much of the conflict arises from Mr Leef's role as chairman of the marae's women's committee, but marae treasurer Elaine Pomare said the convicted paedophile's presence had sent ripples through close-knit Panguru.
Most people initially "felt quite sorry for him" despite knowing of his past, she said.
"A lot of people here don't know `what' he is. He's a paedophile, there's no getting away from that."
She was concerned for safety on the marae where children were always "floating around".
Mrs Pomare and some other congregation members had stopped going to church after Mr Leef played a role in communion. "We stopped going when he started helping the priest in church. I don't want to have bread given to me at communion by a paedophile."
He appeared to have charmed his way into the women's committee, she said.
Mrs Pomare's husband Jerry Pomare is marae chairman.
Mr Leef said he believed "people need to be treated reasonably at all times regardless of what they have done".
He has taken action in the Maori Land Court over what he calls poor management by marae trustees and, while he knew he was not the "right person" to raise the issues given his past, nobody else was prepared to speak up.
Mr Leef says his past is being used as a smoke-screen to hide real issues at the marae.
He said there had been no annual meeting, no audited reports and little consultation with trust beneficiaries for some time, but Mr Pomare said that was because despite calling several AGMs, not enough people had turned up to hold an official meeting.
Mr Leef said he'd taken the matter to court on behalf of the Komiti Waahine - the women who "did the hands-on stuff" at the marae - because he felt Mr Pomare was being an "autocratic bully".
But Mr Pomare said he had had to battle for years, including in the Maori Land Court, to get the women's committee to provide audited accounts.
The Maori Land Court held a judicial conference on November 7, but details of that meeting are yet to be released.
• Guilty as charged In 2001, Kaperiere Petera Leef pleaded guilty to five representative charges of indecent assault involving five boys aged between 13 and 15, when he appeared in the High Court at Auckland.
He also admitted one charge of sexual violation by unlawful sexual connection.
The charges relate to incidents between July 1999 and November 2000, when he touched boys' genitals, rubbed their bodies and tried to have oral sex with a boy.
Mr Leef, who trained as a Marist Brother and priest but was never ordained, taught at Auckland's Hato Petera College from 1996.
He abused the boys in the classroom, in the school dormitory, at his home and in a motel.
Mr Leef refused to discuss his sex offences with the Northern Advocate.