Party warns former politician is ‘sex predator’

The man’s name is currently being withheld.
photo: Royal Bank of New Zealand

Almost three months passed from the time a former politician’s political party was told he was a “sex predator” to the time the man stopped working for them.

The man, whose name has been kept secret but who is not a sitting MP, faced the Auckland District Court last week.

After three hours of deliberation, the jury He was found guilty of all eight counts of indecent assault..

The leader of the man’s political party was reportedly informed of the abuse nearly three months before he resigned.

RNZ cannot reveal the political parties at the heart of the case, their leaders, sporting clubs or even the exact dates because it would breach an interim name anonymity order.

The party declined to comment to RNZ due to anonymity.

“(The defendant) is a sex offender”

RNZ has obtained screenshots of a Facebook Messenger conversation in which the wife of one of the complainants tells the party leader the party employs a “sexual predator”.

The conversation took place nearly three months before the former politician resigned.

In the first message, the complainant’s wife wrote: “(The politician) is a sexual predator.”

It generated an automated response from the account.

The next day, a staff member responded to the woman: “Is there anything that can prove this?”

Complainant’s wife: “Yes, it’s my husband.”

Party worker: “Sorry, I don’t quite understand what you’re saying.”

Complainant’s wife: “My husband was sexually assaulted by (the politician) when he was a child at (their sports club). People like this should not be in power. (The accused) is a pervert.”

Two days later, the party leader responded personally.

“Dear (complainant’s wife). Thank you for your message and I’m sorry it took me a few days to get back to you. I don’t usually check all messages myself. The allegations you make are very serious. The party is considering a response. We will get back to you by the end of tomorrow with our proposed course of action. Regards, (name of party leader).”

The next day, the complainant’s wife thanked the party leaders for taking the time to deal with the matter and said she looked forward to a response.

A few hours later, the party leader responded.

“We think the best thing to do is for you to contact a lawyer who will ask you to provide details of any allegations made by your husband. After hearing the details you provide, they will advise us on how to proceed further.”

The party leader provided the woman with the contact number of an employment lawyer so that she and her husband could contact them “freely” and hoped that the two could find a satisfactory answer.

“I will pass this information on to my husband and I am sure he will contact (the attorney) regarding this matter. This is not an attack on your party, please understand, this is an attack on your party, he is in a position where he should not have to think about his past, and God willing, this does not happen to anyone else,” the complainant’s wife responded.

Ten days later, party leaders wrote back to the woman, saying they understood employment lawyers had been trying to contact her.

“We certainly want to give you and your husband every opportunity to make contact, but we can’t keep this up indefinitely. If you haven’t heard back from (the employment lawyer), please let me know. If you have, please respond to her. If we haven’t heard back from you by some point, we’ll have to consider the matter closed.”

The complainant’s wife responded the same day.

“Thank you for your concern. After discussing with my husband, due to the serious criminal nature of this matter, he has reported the matter to the police and the police are conducting a full investigation.

“He was raised by (the defendant) and if he can prevent this from happening to someone else by finally speaking out, then he will do it.

“It’s great that he wants to be a survivor rather than a victim of this. I think the police investigation into this will help you decide (the politician’s) future in your party.”

“As you’ve said before, these are very serious allegations and should be dealt with in the appropriate manner – through the judicial system.”

The party leader replied: “Thank you for your update, we will inform the lawyers and they should not expect a response from you.”