Helena Dray was just 16 when she had an intimate relationship with her Rangi Ruru Girls' School teacher, Taurapa. Photo: SUPPLIED / STUFF
It has taken Helena Dray years to realise she is not to blame for the sexual relationship she had with her teacher at an elite Christchurch school.
The 21-year-old says she waived her right to suppression in the high-profile case, made public this week, because she has nothing to hide.
She says Taurapa, formerly Connor Taurapa Matthews, the Rangi Ruru Girls' School teacher she had a relationship with while a teenager, took advantage of her youth and the mental health issues she was dealing with.
"He was aware of my vulnerability at the time. I believe his actions towards me were shameful and arrogant, and there should be no place for that in Aotearoa," Dray said in a statement to Stuff on Wednesday.
"I chose to waive name suppression as I have a name, and I am a person. For me personally, to be anonymous means to contribute to the narrative that victims' actions are in some way shameful or contributory to their abuse.
"This is untrue, and harmful to victims past, present and future. If there is no name on the other end of these cases, it makes it harder to comprehend the impact that these events have and allows perpetrators a level of detachment from the effects of their actions, giving them a continued unjust power over victims."
On Monday, Stuff revealed Taurapa had been struck off the teaching register after the Teachers Disciplinary Tribunal found he had a sexual relationship with Dray and groomed another teenager.
From 2018 to April 2019, Taurapa was a te reo Māori teacher at Rangi Ruru Girls' School in CHristchurch. Photo: Google Maps
From 2018 to April 2019 he was a te reo Māori teacher at Rangi Ruru Girls' School. During that period he was also a live-in house tutor at Christ's College.
The severe abuse of his position as a teacher took place at both schools.
Taurapa's relationship with Dray, then a 16-year-old Year 12 Rangi Ruru student, was exposed in March 2019 by two Christ's College staffers who had become suspicious of his behaviour, and one photographed his car outside the teenager's home late at night.
Taurapa resigned from his position at Rangi Ruru the following month.
However, the extent of his relationship with Dray was not revealed until she provided an affidavit to a Teaching Council investigator earlier this year.
"It took years for me to come forward due to the stigma and victim blaming that commonly surrounds these cases," Dray said in her statement to Stuff.
"I have been in therapy for years now due to these events."
She said part of the reason she delayed coming forward was because she felt Taurapa would "potentially be reprimanded harder for his actions as he is Māori".
"Although his actions were unacceptable and extremely damaging, they have nothing to do with his race or culture."
It was "disgraceful" that Taurapa had suggested his actions as an inexperienced teacher were a result of a failure to comprehend the difference between the Māori cultural values regarding his responsibilities to young people and the professional boundaries of teaching, she said.
In July 2022, Taurapa took up a role as a translator with Stuff, and appeared in various news stories. He no longer works for the media organisation.
"It was difficult seeing Taurapa continue his career, especially in the media, although I held little doubt he would be let go from certain positions once this case was made public."
Dray said she thought of "other victims who don't get the level of justice I feel I have".
When Rangi Ruru contacted her on Monday, it was the first time the school had "reached out to me personally regarding these events".
"I felt a distinct lack of concern for my wellbeing from the school, both during my time as a student ... and since. I feel as though they only contacted me due to anticipated media attention, rather than genuine concern for my wellbeing."
In her affidavit, Dray detailed how her relationship with Taurapa began after he started messaging her privately via SnapChat.
He bought her a present for her 16th birthday, gave her poetry, and sent her messages almost every day, including naked videos and photos of himself, before they eventually performed sex acts on each other in his car one day as he drove her home from a school activity.
A month before Taurapa's relationship with Dray was exposed in 2019, the parents of a 17-year-old girl who worked part-time for a contractor at Christ's College complained about messages he had been sending her via SnapChat. While the girl's boss spoke to Taurapa, the school took no action against him.
Despite the two complaints about his behaviour, Taurapa was able to continue in his house tutor role at Christ's College until December 2021.
He also secured teaching jobs at two other schools - Hornby High School and Te Whānau Tahi - before joining Stuff.
One of the staffers who blew the whistle on Taurapa's relationship with Dray told Stuff earlier this week he thought it was completely unacceptable Taurapa was allowed to continue working at Christ's College - something the school now concedes should not have happened.
"He should have been suspended immediately and removed from the campus while an investigation was undertaken," board chairperson Hugh Lindo said on Tuesday.
The school has appointed a lawyer to investigate "all aspects of Taurapa's employment" there.
After concerns about Taurapa's relationship with Dray were raised in 2019, there was a six-month delay in the matter being flagged with the Teaching Council because Rangi Ruru's principal mistakenly sent a mandatory report to the wrong email address.
In the interim, Taurapa was employed at Hornby High School on a fixed term, part-time contract for about five months.
"I understand the referee's checks undertaken at the time did not indicate any concerns or alarm bells," the school's newly appointed principal Iain Murray said on Tuesday.
In January 2020, after leaving Hornby High School, Taurapa began teaching at Te Whānau Tahi, a Māori immersion school, and was later elected to its board of trustees. The co-board chairs of the school, one of whom is Taurapa's brother, have not responded to repeated requests for comment.
On Tuesday, a Teaching Council spokesperson said the case was unique because much of the most serious evidence against Taurapa came to light late in the investigation, by which time he was no longer in a teaching position.
When the matter was first referred to the Teachers Disciplinary Tribunal, the Teaching Council alerted Taurapa's employer at the time, Te Whānau Tahi, as required, but "there was no reason at that stage that prevented him from continuing to teach".
Taurapa has twice declined to comment since the tribunal's decision was made public on Monday.
This story was originally published by Stuff.