Interesting way of learning Te Reo

With just 24 days left until I appear in court to answer 10 charges of breaching name suppression we get yet another reason why the burqa laying across our justice system needs to be removed. Once again we have an establishment person hiding behind the veil of the burqa that is name suppression. Let’s count the establishment connections Catholic, Principal, Teacher, Maori.

Elvis Dobson Shephard (NZPA)

Suspended Hato Paora College principal Elvis Dobson Shepherd has been found guilty of sexually abusing students at an Auckland school in the early 1990s.

Shepherd can finally be named after all suppression orders were lifted last night when a High Court jury delivered its verdict after deliberating for less than five hours.

The sexual encounters between Shepherd and two teenage boys occurred while he was teaching and living at Hato Petera College, a Maori Catholic boarding school on the North Shore.

The 49-year-old, who identifies as bisexual, was also a student at the school before returning to teach te reo Maori in an experimental total immersion unit in 1989.

I don’t think the school was expecting Elvis’ definition if total immersion.

The first sexual encounter occurred in March 1990 after an annual gala day and disco.

The 16-year-old boy, who had been asked to leave after stealing, got drunk and stoned and fell asleep on a rugby field as the disco went on into the night.

Shepherd offered him a place to crash and after dropping people home in a van the pair ended up in an office, on a mattress in the dark. While the boy was sleeping Shepherd began performing oral sex on the boy and did another indecent act.

The 1994 sexual encounter involved the 17-year-old boy going to see Shepherd for help with te reo.

Shepherd was a dorm master but teaching at another school at the time.

The boy sat in a chair, Shepherd began massaging him before wafting something under his nose as he lay on the bed, making him feel lethargic. He then forced the boy to perform oral sex on him. The victims came forward after a decade of burying the memories.

Interesting method of teaching te reo. I wonder if it helps with forming the correct mouth shape for the pronouciation of maori vowels (a, e, i, o, u). This sexual predator will have more victims for sure. His name suppression has contributed to his ability to continue to prey on unsuspecting school children. Now that the burqa of our justice system is lifted we can finally know just who this sexual predator is.

It seems though that some don’t get it.

“This has been a prolonged and complex investigation with the victims having the added stress of having to endure two trials,” she said outside court.

Shepherd family spokesman Taiarahia Black said the outcome was a huge loss for whanau and the community.

“He’s devoted almost a lifetime to Maori educational advancement.”

More likely he has devoted almost a lifetime to the sexual grooming and abusing of school children, aided and abetted by the system who will have quietly moved him on when ever problems arose. If performing oral sex on students is Maori educational advancement then the Maori education system is in terrible trouble.

What is more interesting though, is a google search of Elvis Dobson Shepherd throws up numerous examples of MSM websites carrying the story prior to name suppression being applied to this case, again leading one to conclude that some judges and lawyers clearly don’t read the internet or even realise that name suppression is completely ineffective these days.

Just as we don’t tolerate people people wearing a burqa while driving, and cringe when we see such subjucation of women in the street, we shouldn’t tolerate the shroud of secrecy that name suppression provides over criminals.