Continued employment of teacher who admitted statutory rape - parliamentary statement
(13 September 2005)
The entire situation is simply unacceptable. Admitted child-rapists cannot simply continue teaching. It seems like a highly improbably excuse that the perpetrator had admitted guilt and shown remorse and that the community was still willing to accept him as a teacher. Is the Department of Education really claiming that not one parent is concerned about their children being in daily contact with an admitted rapist? This man contravened several laws and should have been summarily dismissed. That he was not creates an untenable and ethically disastrous situation for all the pupils and teachers at his school.
The negligence of the Department of Education is compounded by the inability of the police and prosecution authorities to pursue criminal charges two years after the admission.
Cases such as these feed into the perception that Government is not serious about dealing with sexual predators, especially those who prey on children. How will we ever get the message across to sexual abusers that their crimes are unacceptable, when we are constantly faced with these blatant and public examples of sexual abusers not being punished for their despicable deeds?