Music teacher jailed for molestation

Gordon Jones in the Dunedin District Court. Photo / Otago Daily Times

A retired music teacher has been jailed for two and a half years for sexually molesting a teenage girl who was sent to him for singing lessons.

Gordon Laurence Jones, 65, who was described as "an outstanding music teacher" with a great reputation as someone who could encourage and extend young people, became infatuated with his 13-year-old pupil, Judge Jane Farish told Dunedin District Court yesterday.

He told the girl he loved her and started touching her indecently, initially over her clothes. That developed to skin to skin contact to the point where he touched her indecently and had her commit indecencies.

The offending happened when the girl had turned 14 and had a very serious effect on her, as well as on her family, Jones' family and the music-related organisations with which he was associated, the judge said.

She expressed some concern about references in letters to the offending being "an incident".

"It wasn't. It was a course and pattern of conduct over 14 months. And it had very serious effects on the victim," Judge Farish said.

Prosecutor Richard Smith referred to the significant age gap between the two, the period of grooming and the significant breach of trust. Defence lawyer John Westgate stressed Jones' lack of prior convictions, his genuine remorse and the effects of the offending on him. He had lost his good name and his business but still had the support of family and friends.

Sentencing Jones on two charges of having sexual connection with an under-age girl and doing an indecent act, Judge Farish said the offending was serious. It involved a breach of trust "on multiple levels".

The girl's parents had sent her to him for singing lessons. They trusted him and thought he was looking after their daughter and tutoring her. They were paying him to do so.

In her victim impact statement, the girl said she was initially confused about what was happening. She regarded Jones as a compassionate, kind and caring man, someone she could trust and, when he told her he loved her, she could not understand someone of his age would say he loved a 14-year-old girl. She spoke of cutting herself off from many of the normal activities of 13 and 14 year olds.

On all charges, Judge Farish sentenced Jones to concurrent prison terms of two and a half years and gave him a warning under the "three strikes" law.