The benefits of naming criminals rather than allowing them to hide behind name suppression continues to play out with the case of pedo teacher James Parker:
More teachers who worked with convicted sex offender James Parker have contacted police about his “concerning behaviour” since details of his lurid past were made public last week.
And the Weekend Herald has learned the Ministry of Education did not know about an earlier police investigation into Parker, and was not monitoring him.
Parker had been teaching since about 1996 and was the deputy principal at Pamapuria School in Kaitaia when he was arrested and charged with 49 counts of sexually abusing young pupils.
He admitted all of those charges in the Kaitaia District Court last week. It has since been revealed that police investigated Parker in 2009 after complaints were made about his behaviour towards pupils. No charges were laid as police could not substantiate the claims.
However they wrote a “strongly worded” letter to the school about Parker.
His first principal then spoke out about raising concerns with police in 1996 when Parker was a first-year teacher. She complained to an officer in Kaitaia about Parker hosting pupils in his home overnight and sharing his bed with them.
She said her complaint was never dealt with properly.
People are coming forward because he has been named. If he had maintained his name suppression then none of his other offending would ever have made the light of day.
Name Suppression actually helps protect offenders from public scrutiny.
