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Deputy principal pleads guilty to indecent assault

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Guilty plea on 49 child sex charges

3News NZ

The identity of a prominent member of the Far North community who has pleaded guilty to 49 charges of indecently assaulting juvenile boys can now be revealed.

James Parker was the deputy principal at Pamapuria School in Kaitaia at the time of the offending. He entered tearful pleas to each charge read aloud to him when he appeared at Kaitaia District Court today.

The public gallery was packed and many broke down crying.

Parker said to the court that those who know him will know he’s not the monster he will be made out to be and that he is the host of a terrible disorder. He said he would suffer with regret for the rest of his life.

Trauma teams have been brought into the community to support Parker's many victims, who are thought to number more than 30. The alleged offending has happened over several years.

The judge expressed concern that some of the victims have moved on to high school and are being bullied, but emphasised that nothing was their fault – it was Parker's fault.

Pamapuria School has been taken over by a commissioner, and the principal has been stood down for an unknown length of time.

It is the second major sex scandal to rock the area of late. This week the leader of the Kaitaia Family Church, Eric Reid, is appearing again in court on a raft of sex-related charges.

Investigations into the Parker began in early June and he was arrested on July 13.

He will be sentenced in Kaitaia in November.

3 News / RadioLIVE

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Comments

1/10/2012 4:26:18 p.m.

brenda wrote:

well bloody good job to a community that took pride in rubbishing parents that try to help there own taken from so there call child welfare agencys and kaitaia courts bloody good job to your community try sort that one out now hope you all learnt a good lesson by it,who they beleive are the dysfunctional in there little town & country

24/09/2012 11:45:08 a.m.

janine wrote:

I have known james for a very long time..infact we would be hitting the "enty" years.. and with this type of situation and this type of person.."everyone has the right to feel as they want to feel" at the same time, like myself I never knew anything of this magnatuide was going on..never did I feel that he was a predator towards me or my family, never did the children he have over when we were there seemed like they were in distress or unhappy to be there, infact on many occasions they seemed happy to escape there own homes. but obviously behind close doors something was going on and so it came as a massive and heart wrenching shock, firstly to hear of these accusations and later on to hear that IT WAS ALL TRUE..he is diffenatly a bad man for doing what he has done and my aroha goes directly out to the whanau that has been caused pain by this, at the same time for some people like HIS family they are trying to put the pieces back together from what has happened and there are people still supporting him because the shock weighed up by what this man actually did for a lot of people is sending their thoughts into overdrive.. but thats their right to still support him.. thats why they feel its best to support him.. id also like to say to everyone in kaitaia...kia kaha kaitaia..kia kaha my whanau..kia kaha i nga wa katoa..

24/08/2012 5:04:42 p.m.

Minar wrote:

James Parker might have made a difference to the children of Pamapuria School if only he had not been a sexual predator. What led James to become this terrible person? How is it that he got away with his actions for so long? So many people knew what he was capable of and yet no one took any action. I recently read " A Child Called It", it was a story of a boy who suffered terrible abuse at the hands of his mother. Everyone knew what was happening but nobody did anything,not his father, nor his teachers, or the people in his neighborhood. It was set in the 1970's in California and his case was classed as one of the worst cases of child abuse in the state of California. But we are here in NZ in 2012, we have amazing communication facilities now, so why did this man get to damage so many lives? He is not the only one accountable for his actions, all the people who knew what he was are also responsible for what these children now have to live with. With the right help and support, and a lot of love they will hopefully move on and look forward to the future and not be trapped in the past by the terrible memories that will haunt them. What are the chances of that? These kids are being bullied at school right now, are they and their families going to cope? How can the parents and teachers of these bullies let this go on? Haven't these kids been through enough? The impact is greater than just the children who were abused, the actions and consequences of James Parker and those that knew what he was are very far reaching. Apportioning blame won't help but making sure this doesn't happen again will. How will NZ help these children and their families? Will this piece of news just be filed away like all the other stories and just become another file in a filing cabinet? Will we ever get it right? Will these children ever be able to trust and feel safe? Or is this just the way it is in the world today?

23/08/2012 7:30:41 p.m.

Anna wrote:

I STILL don't understand how locals can support him? He admitted to what he has done, to our children!? and yet people think hes crying from regret; nop. He is crying because he got caught. I would never EVER support someone that could do that to little innocent kids, EVER.

23/08/2012 6:16:49 p.m.

CEDRIC wrote:

This news came as a huge shock to me and my family. Jamie was a family friend and my two younger brothers both attended Pamapuria and were very fond of Jamie. Despite the terrible things he has done, our family will always remember him for the good he has done. We continue to pray for all those bits affected by his actions.

23/08/2012 5:39:06 p.m.

Liz wrote:

Jamie deserves everything he gets, this 'terrible disorder' is bull he has a choice and at the end of the day he was fulfilling his sexual needs. So people of kaitaia stop giving him this mana of a leader of your community, he is a predator who preyed on our most vulnerable.

23/08/2012 12:19:08 p.m.

MARY wrote:

um tyler, think about it before you say it. imagine that one of those boys is your son how would you feel then. he is a preditor and putting on a good sorry act, sorry he did it or sorry he got caught, yes i agree its an illness but hey you still know what your doing is wrong especially when other cases are al over the news.

22/08/2012 5:47:49 p.m.

Tyler wrote:

people need to grow up,jamie taught me for two years,and regardless of what he has done to people he still made a positive impact on the community in other ways,anybody who didn't know him,but wants an opinion is an arrogant idiot.

22/08/2012 12:15:05 p.m.

Margaret Herbert-Kay wrote:

This is so sad for the victims and their whanau. You do the right thing by your children in ensuring they go to school to learn and grow up to be responsible adults, then a person whom you entrust your children too does this to them. What chances do our children have in the future???

22/08/2012 11:44:56 a.m.

MARY wrote:

the beast of kaitaia