"The trust of six young men across four decades was broken by their seemingly affable, quiet choirmaster, Leonard Cave."
The first complaint against Cave came from a choirboy at Dilworth School in 1970-71, who was aged 14 or 15 years old, Barry said.
Cave, a tutor at the time, approached the boy in the Dilworth School chapel, pushed him up against the wall and grabbed his crotch, before placing the boy's hand on his own crotch.
The boy complained to the principal at the time, Peter Parr, but no action was taken.
Barry said this "set the stage for things to come" as complaints against Cave did not appear to have been referred to police or other authorities.
Cave left the school for another role overseas in 1971 and returned to Dilworth several years later as head of the music department.
In this role, he developed close relationships with some students, and took two Dilworth boarding house students to a holiday home on Waiheke Island early in the 1980s.
The boys were given alcohol by Cave, and they drank late into the evening. Their memories were not totally clear, Barry said, but they remembered alleged abuse by Cave very clearly.
Cave placed one of the boys' hands down his pants, and when he resisted, kept repeating the act. Another boy then witnessed Cave abusing the student.
Neither of the boys were prepared to report the abuse for decades, Barry said.
The fourth accuser was a Dilworth student who enrolled at the school in 1980. He joined the choir and studied music, and developed a close relationship with Cave.
The boy was also invited to Cave's Waiheke bach, where the music teacher purchased a bottle of whisky for them to drink on the beach. The boy got "extremely drunk" and had to be carried back to the bach, Barry said. He then attempted to get the boy to perform oral sex on him.
A fifth Dilworth student alleged that they were also hosted at Cave's bach on Waiheke in the early 1980s. After drinking heavily at a pub they returned to the bach and the boy was encouraged to play a game which involved taking his clothes off. Cave then attempted to perform oral sex on the boy, who resisted and fled from the bach.
The court heard that the boy complained to his mother, who laid a complaint with Dilworth School. That led to a meeting with the headmaster, after which Cave resigned at the school.
However, Barry said, the mother said she felt nothing else would be done about the alleged abuse. She also did not feel comfortable going to the police about it.
In all, Cave was alleged to have abused five boys across two stints at Dilworth School.
The court also heard that Cave was later accused of supplying drugs to a person under 18 and sexual offending against a student at St Paul's Collegiate in Hamilton.
The boy did not complain to the school or authorities at the time, but made a complaint to police in 2012. Police spoke to Cave but did not place charges.
A police investigation into historic abuse at Dilworth School, named Operation Beverly, resulted in charges against Cave and six other men in September 2020.
In his opening statement, defence lawyer Warren Pyke said there was another side to the story which had been detailed by the prosecution.
It was not in itself controversial that Cave had close contact with the complainants, Pyke said. But his client denied all of the offending which had been alleged by his former students.
Pyke said he would raise issues of reliability of evidence given the amount of time that had passed since the alleged offending took place, especially in the Dilworth cases.
Whether the complainants' memories could be relied on would be a key issue to consider, he said.
He would also question whether complainants had spoken the truth, in particular in relation to Cave's alleged offending in Hamilton.
He concluded: "Cave denies any sexual interest in any of the complainants or any of these young men."
The trial is expected to run for two weeks, and jurors will hear from 20 witnesses.
A SECRET FOR 40 YEARS
The first complainant told the court he was enrolled at Dilworth School in 1966 because his father had died when he was young and his mother was an alcoholic and was unable to look after him.
Cave was a house tutor in a different part of the boarding school and played the organ in the chapel.
"It was one afternoon I think it was after choir practice," the complainant said. "I was in one of the ancillary rooms in the chapel, the chorister's room when the cassocks … were hung up.
"I was alone, Mr Cave came in, he didn't say anything to me, advanced towards me, I felt backed into the wall, then he placed one of his hands on my crotch, and attempted to take my other hand and put it towards his crotch.
"I objected strongly, told him to f*** off, and told him I was going to the headmaster to talk about it."
A few days later, he told the headmaster, Peter Parr, what had happened.
"He said something like 'Thanks for telling me'. That was it, it was never mentioned again between us."
The complainant said he did not report the incident in 1970 to anyone else until he was interviewed by police 18 months ago.
Asked by the prosecution why he never told anyone, he said: "I didn't speak to anybody about anything about any events like that from Dilworth at all."
"I bore a great deal of resentment to people there who have contributed or caused some severe mental health difficulties that I have. And they seem all to be wrapped up together and I think I just put those events in a little box and put them out of sight.
"It wasn't until I, through the media, heard about the investigation around Dilworth. I agonised for quite some time about whether I should do anything about it, but it was also tinged with a guilt."
He said he felt that if he had spoken up earlier that some of the other alleged victims may not have been abused.
"I felt responsible, in part."
Under cross-examination, the complainant said he remained in the choir at the school after the alleged abuse, which meant he still came into contact with Cave, who played the organ for the choir.
Pyke, the defence lawyer, questioned the complainant's memory of whether Cave was playing the organ at the time, whether the door to the chorister's room had been left open, and whether anyone else was in the chapel at the time.
The complainant agreed that he was "guessing" no one else was in the chapel.
Pyke asked whether his recollection of the events was flawed and did not involve Cave.
"No," said the complainant.
When it was put to him that it did not happen at all, he said: "Yes, it did."
