Lower Hutt teenager charged with swearing about 'mean as f***' teacher in public

The 17-year-old Lower Hutt boy is charged with using indecent language within hearing of Hutt Valley High School on October 27. Photo / File

A teenager has been charged after allegedly saying "this teacher is mean as f***" in a public place.

The 17-year-old Lower Hutt boy is charged with using indecent language within hearing of Hutt Valley High School on October 27.

He is also charged with trespassing at the school on the same day, according to a charge sheet seen by the Herald at Hutt Valley District Court.

Hutt Valley High School principal Ross Sinclair was unsure of the exact incident involving the 17-year-old accused of swearing, but said there had been incidents recently where groups of people had come onto school grounds and refused to leave.

He said the people had been "resistant" to staff trespassing them from the grounds and had used rude language to them.

Dean of law at the University of Canterbury Ursula Cheer said the section of the Summary Offences Act 1981 which the defendant was charged under refers to people using "obscene or indecent" language within hearing of a public place.

She said the section was "meant to deal with issues around public order".

Associate professor of law at the University of Auckland Kenneth Palmer said writer and broadcaster Germaine Greer was charged with swearing in public in 1972 in New Zealand, he said.

The charges follows another case currently going through the court process where a woman in her 20s allegedly told a man "Go back to your country" with intent to insult him. She also faces charges of assaulting the man, wilful damage, and possessing meth.