Former St Peter’s teacher Geoffrey Coker's lawyer claims that naked piggyback allegations are ‘fake’

Former St Peter's School teacher Geoffrey Coker is defending historic indecent assault charges in the Hamilton District Court. Photo / Belinda Feek

One of several former St Peter’s pupils at the centre of an historic indecent assault case, says he’s never discussed what happened to him with anybody else, after defence counsel labelled his accusations, “fake”.

Geoffrey Owen Coker is currently on trial defending nine charges in the Hamilton District Court relating to offences that allegedly occurred about 50 years ago and involved young pupils.

In her opening address to the jury, Crown solicitor Rebecca Guthrie said the allegations involved Coker rubbing his naked body against the naked body of a complainant, asking two boys to bathe together naked and show each other their genitals while he watched them, indecently touching another boy over his clothes, and giving and having naked piggyback rides.

Guthrie said the complainants knew what Coker was doing was wrong, and it was conduct they were not comfortable with and they’d all carried it with them over the intervening five decades.

She outlined how the charges came about when St Peter’s School issued an apology in September 2021 after an investigation revealed historic cases of abuse against former pupils at the school by a former staff member.

Police then investigated the allegations and Coker, who taught at the school between 1974 and 1976, was identified and charged.

Complainant B was in the witness box today and recalled Coker taking himself and either two or three others to the hot pools.

When they arrived he said Coker told them that “these were hot pools that we didn’t wear togs in”.

“That was the instruction that we were given,” adding that Coker didn’t wear his togs either.

When in the pool Coker then “encouraged us to have piggyback rides”.

“That we piggyback him and he would piggyback us and vice-versa.”

Asked by Guthrie how that went, B said that he was “quite little” and Coker was “quite a big guy and it was actually quite hard to piggyback him”.

“I recall it being quite difficult.”

As for how it felt, B said with a piggyback ride there was quite a lot of skin contact, “and I remember that feeling very strange in the context”.

“Because you are naked and you’ve got someone on your back ... that was an uncomfortable feeling.”

Former St Peter's School teacher Geoffrey Coker enters the Hamilton District Court recently. Photo / Belinda Feek

Asked whether that was an unusual or normal activity, B said he couldn’t recall piggyback rides in the school pool.

It was the only trip that he went on with Coker, he said.

‘You have invented a story’

Defence counsel JD Dallas said his client would give evidence that he went to hot pools in 1975 but not in 1976 or 1977, as he had claimed.

B said he recalled going to the hot pools, believed they were private, but couldn’t remember which town they went to, but it did not happen in 1975.

Dallas said Coker would give evidence there were piggyback rides and boys jumping off each other’s shoulders in a pool but it happened in 1975.

“I have no comment to make about that,” he said.

Dallas then turned up the heat and told him that he had “conflated rumours about what you have been told and you have discussed these rumours with other ex-pupils about Mr Coker”.

“That is not correct,” B replied.

St Peter's School in Cambridge.

Dallas then referred him to his police statement in which he mentioned hearing from another student, one or two years after he left the school, that Coker had paid two boys to clean his bath naked.

“You have invented a story about the defendant,” Dallas said, to which B replied, “No”.

“A story that you now believe happened,” Dallas said.

“No,” B responded.

“I put it to you that the story about piggybacking naked in the hot pools... is a false memory which is fake but which is in your mind that you now believe happened.”

“That is not correct,” B said.

In re-examination from Guthrie about whether he had “conflated” rumours, B said he hadn’t told anyone about it before.

“There are things in your life that you don’t remember but I guess there are some things in your life that you just do not forget... that just absolutely stay in your memory and despite never having talked about it... it’s something I have never forgotten.”

Meanwhile, earlier in the day, Judge Clark asked complainant A about an NZ Herald article produced by the defence that stated St Peter’s might pay compensation to survivors.

A denied being paid any money.

She also asked whether there were any other styles of corporal punishment he could recall at St Peter’s, and A recalled having “all-ins” every morning and evening, where the students would have to have their shoes polished, nails cleaned, and if something was not clean or tidy, they would get a “whack”.

He couldn’t recall being smacked over the knee, and the only time someone would be whacked on the naked bottom would be if they were fooling around in the showers.

The trial continues.

Belinda Feek is an Open Justice reporter based in Waikato. She has worked at NZME for nine years and has been a journalist for 20.