A petition before Parliament is demanding sweeping changes to how sex offenders are dealt with, arguing that victims are forced to live in fear while many abusers walk free in the community.
The petition was launched soon after the Herald revealed an Auckland teacher who pleaded guilty to sexually abusing an 11-year-old pupil had travelled overseas on holiday before her District Court sentencing next month.
The woman, in her 30s, admitted charges of grooming a young person for sexual conduct and doing an indecent act on a boy under 12.
A suppression order is in place to prevent her name or identifying details from being published.
Her sentencing was scheduled for May but was delayed and will now take place in October.
Her victim’s father has been told that before then, she is heading overseas to support a loved one undergoing a cosmetic procedure.
She is on bail, but there are no conditions restricting her travel.
Days after the story was published, Jacinta McGregor – a friend of the victim’s family – launched her petition to Parliament, requesting that the Government “tighten bail and sentencing laws for sex offenders in New Zealand”.
“I think sex offenders awaiting sentencing should not get bail, but if on bail, they should be monitored and not allowed in public,” the petition states.
“I think they should face longer prison sentences. In my view: victims deserve safety and peace of mind, and should not be worried about bumping into their abuser in the street; victims can feel like the offender gets all the freedom and safety which I feel is wrong; sex offenders have a high chance of reoffending and we need to keep our children and communities safe.”
Almost 400 people have already signed the petition.
McGregor told the Herald that she had seen how the offender had affected the victim and she felt compelled to take action.
“I have also had a few people message me after I shared your article and the number of victims who are silenced in New Zealand is disgusting,” she said.
“Our justice system is supporting sex offenders over victims – so, I have started a petition to fight for the laws against sex offenders to change.”
The young victim’s father said he had not been able to take any action to protect his son from the offender in the community.
Because she had name suppression, he could not tell people who she was, and he had been unable to seek any trespass orders to keep her away from places his son spent time.
“It’s not right,” he said.
“She should have been remanded in custody until sentencing, or kept at home. This needs to change. It’s just disgusting… the pain and hurt we have been through is indescribable and this predator is just allowed to walk around free.
“It’s mindblowing. She has pleaded guilty - she has admitted the offending and she can go and do whatever she likes … there need to be more serious consequences.”
McGregor was calling on people to support the petition.
“There are victims out there who are scared to leave home… whereas abusers are just able to walk around the streets with no boundaries with complete freedom,” she said.
“The crimes these people have committed are horrific. The fact this particular woman has just been able to go overseas on holiday … the amount of freedom she has is insulting. It’s a real kick in the teeth for the victim.
“For New Zealand to accept this as a possibility – it’s scary.”
She said the case of Myah Adams further convinced her that the Government needed to take action against sex offenders.
Adams is a former Auckland teacher jailed after admitting to performing sex acts on a 15-year-old student on multiple occasions.
The Herald reported today that she has had her sentence reduced to home detention on appeal.
For more information on the petition click here.
The teacher was charged with grooming a young person for sexual conduct and doing an indecent act on a boy under 12.
She was not the boy’s classroom teacher but was the head of his year group.
Their interaction increased when he started bullying other children.
“We were really worried about his mental health. He was fine at home but not at school,” his father told the Herald.
The boy’s parents were so concerned that they sought help from their local child and youth mental health service.
The woman then got involved, and the boy’s parents believed she was helping them.
“We thought, ‘great, she’s helping him with his mental health’ – but all the while she was destroying his mental health,” his dad said.
“We would be at the park, and she would be there, and we would allow him to go for a walk up the beach with her. It wasn’t as if we weren’t there.
“She was into fitness, and they’d go for runs and stuff like that – we allowed it because he came back so happy, and to see a mentally battered child happy, that made us happy.
“And – she was his teacher.”
The woman has admitted to messaging the boy on Instagram, Snapchat and Google documents.
It remains unclear when the messaging began.
Snapchat self-erases messages after they are viewed, and the teacher would manually delete the messages sent via Google after reading them.
Among the woman’s messages to the boy:
“We would make a good couple.”
“If you ask me out, I’ll say yes.”
Police said the teacher “kept asking” the boy to ask her out, and in August 2024, he did - believing afterwards that they were “boyfriend and girlfriend”.
Once they started “dating”, the teacher would send the boy messages saying she loved him.
She also started to spend time with him “unsupervised”.
Sometimes she would go for walks with him and hold his hand.
Once, she took him to her parents’ home to “watch a movie” while they were away. While at the house, they played darts before “going into the lounge and wrestling”.
During the wrestling, the teacher grabbed the boy with her hands and kissed him on the lips.
She also sent the boy multiple photographs through Snapchat – either of her partially or fully nude and displaying her breasts, bottom or vagina.
“Every time she sent [the boy] a photograph, she would tell him: ‘Don’t tell anyone, this is just for you’,” police told the court.
“On one occasion, she sent [the boy] a selfie photograph of her face, breasts and stomach.
“On another occasion, she sent [him] a photograph of herself fully nude in the bath. “
She sent further nude bath photographs and a “mirror selfie” in which she wore only underwear and a bra.
In another “mirror selfie” she was wearing a shirt, but fully nude from the waist down.
After her arrest, the teacher declined to speak with police.
She pleaded guilty to all of the charges earlier this year.
Anna Leask is a senior journalist who covers national crime and justice. She joined the Herald in 2008 and has worked as a journalist for almost 20 years with a particular focus on family and gender-based violence, child abuse, sexual violence, homicides, mental health and youth crime. She writes, hosts and produces the award-winning podcast A Moment In Crime, released monthly on nzherald.co.nz