A schoolboy accused of raping a fellow student was allowed to go back to the same school as his alleged victim.
The 14-year-old boy appeared in the Hamilton Youth Court this month charged with raping a 16-year-old girl, who attended the same high school.
He was granted bail
by Judge Denise Clark, allowing him to return to school.
The boy, the girl and the school cannot be named under Youth Court rules.
The decision staggered the Waikato high school's principal who immediately moved the girl elsewhere and then suspended the boy.
National's youth justice spokeswoman Anne Tolley last night congratulated the principal for acting decisively but attacked the judge for letting the problem arise.
"I think most New Zealanders would just be shaking their heads and wondering what on earth was going on. You can't help but feel real sympathy for the girl involved, and her family."
Mrs Tolley applauded the school's quick and decisive action, forced because "the courts have quite clearly run out of ideas. I don't think any sensible person would think this is a sensible outcome."
The principal said he was "angry and staggered" by the bail conditions and had written to the judge.
"My understanding, in talking to the family, was he was advised by the judge that should he see her at school he should turn and walk the other way."
The alleged rapist turned up at school the next day. Two female staff took the girl off site until the principal could manage the situation.
