KEY POINTS:
A Waikato school principal says his staff - and not official agencies - supported a girl who was raped, allegedly by a fellow student.
The principal spoke to the Herald following a decision by Youth Court judge Denise Clark to allow a 14-year-old boy charged with the rape to return to the school at which the girl was also a student.
The boy, who appeared in the Hamilton Youth Court on August 4, was granted bail and showed up at his school the following day dressed in his uniform.
He was suspended immediately "for his own safety" as two female staff accompanied the girl from the grounds.
The accused, victim and school cannot be named under Youth Court rules but the principal told the Herald he was still struggling with the "bizarre" ruling.
"I think the court should have taken cognisance of the fact that the victim and the alleged rapist go to the same school and so therefore you would have thought that someone would have had the sense to say this can't happen," he said.
"It just highlights that people who are in key positions weren't thinking what are the implications of this."
The principal said the incident had "devastated" staff at the school, many of whom knew both of the students.
He was also critical of official agencies, who he says should have offered counselling to the girl but didn't.
He said the school had to step in to provide support for the families of both the girl and the boy, who have siblings at the school.
"I thought there was a stage in there where the agencies were alerted and the fact that a young person had made these allegations and there were some concerns about it."
Andrea Black, a spokeswoman for the National Collective of Rape Crisis, didn't know whether the case had been brought to the attention of its Hamilton branch.
The school also committed to providing ongoing education for the boy and the principal said the Ministry of Education provided funds for aid.
"Obviously because of his age someone should have had the sense to say, 'What's going to happen with his schooling?' It seems quite bizarre that we've actually had to pick up that part of the initiative."
But Detective Sergeant Dave Grace of Hamilton police said: "The appropriate level of support was offered to the complainant."
Mr Grace said he could not comment at length on the details surrounding the case or on the boy's bail conditions because of the risk of being in contempt of court.
But despite calls from Sensible Sentencing Trust chairman Garth McVicar for police to appeal against the decision, he said this would not be done.
The principal said an appeal would have made little difference.
"In this case it's too late; we should never have been put in this situation."
The boy is to reappear in the Hamilton Youth Court in October for a depositions hearing.
