Teacher faces child porn charges if he returns to NZ

A former Northland teacher who fled the country while facing child porn charges will be arrested if he ever returns.

Former Dargaville High School teacher Shane Rahui, 29 -- described by the school's principal David Bargh as "a big guy with a friendly demeanour" -- failed to appear in the Christchurch District Court on July 15 to answer 37 charges of trading in child pornography.

A warrant was issued for his arrest and police went public with their search for Rahui last week.

But Department of Internal Affairs officials, who laid the charges under the Films, Videos and Publications Classification Act, have since said Rahui had left New Zealand two or three days after an earlier court hearing on June 3.

Mr Bargh said that while Rahui was teaching mathematics at Dargaville High last year he (Rahui) had talked about meeting up with a brother in the United States. Rahui is also listed on an international teachers' website seeking overseas work in Thailand, China or anywhere else in Asia.

Internal Affairs communications adviser Vince Cholewa, of Wellington, said it was not known where Rahui had gone, but "his file will never be closed".

"There is an alert on his name. It would come up in Customs if he returned to this country and the warrant for his arrest would be activated."

Rahui did not have a passport when the charges were laid earlier this year, but had subsequently obtained one from Internal Affairs. Mr Cholewa said that at that stage Rahui had not been convicted of any offence and was not subject to any bail conditions restricting him from leaving the country.

However, Internal Affairs Minister George Hawkins is to look at stopping alleged porn traders getting passports and going overseas while facing charges.

The minister's press secretary, Helen Corrigan, said yesterday Mr Hawkins planned to encourage his senior officials and Police Commissioner Rob Robinson to look at ways of stopping porn trading suspects following in Rahui's footsteps.

Rahui's offences, alleged to have happened in Christchurch during the past two years, involve electronic films and photographs of children being sexually abused.

Rahui was at Dargaville High School as a relief teacher last year where he interacted well with other staff and the students, Mr Bargh said.

"He was what you would call a big guy with a friendly demeanour ."

Mr Bargh said the school understood Rahui may have family at Kaihu, north of Dargaville, but he had been brought up in Christchurch when his father, who was in the New Zealand Army, had been stationed there.

Rahui had taken a one-year postgraduate course at the Christchurch College of Education to obtain a graduate diploma in teaching and learning before he started work at Dargaville.

- NORTHERN ADVOCATE (WHANGAREI)