A 19-year-old teacher aide has claimed his sex addiction led him to send sexual text messages to a 12-year-old girl.
Kevin McMillan has been charged with sexually grooming the pupil while working at Blockhouse Bay Intermediate, where his mother was chairwoman of the board of trustees.
It was alleged that over eight days he sent inappropriate text messages and arranged to meet the girl outside school hours with intent to commit a crime.
He defended the charge at the Auckland District Court this week denying he had any sexual intent.
The court heard some of the text messages included McMillan telling the girl, "You're cute and hot for a girl your age".
"I wish I wasn't a member of staff", "I wish I could ask you out", "How far have you gone with a boy" and "How far would you like to go."
In a police interview shown to the court, McMillan said he gave the girl his number because he wanted to help her.
"We started texting and I started to develop feelings for her. At the start I didn't think it was wrong but at the end of the week I thought it wasn't right and I told her in person that it had to stop," he said.
He said he had sent the text messages but did not intend any physical contact or relationship.
"I'm very flirty over text message because I'm more confident over text than in person. That's just me."
He said the school had not explained to him that he could not be friends with the pupils.
"I can't do professional boundaries. It's to do with my age and my immaturity," he said. "I'm a bit of a sex addict. A lot of things I discuss are around sex. That's just me. I got caught up in the whole text thing."
The girl told police McMillan typed "I so badly want to kiss you" on his phone as he walked her home and told the court by audio-visual link that McMillan gave her chocolate, money and beer.
Judge Roy Wade reserved his decision until Tuesday.