Hang yourself, sex abuse victims tell ex-principal

By BRITTON BROUN - The Dominion Post

Last updated 05:00 12/06/2010

Former school principal Richard Joel was told to hang himself after being sentenced for historic child sexual abuse.

Two former pupils he had repeatedly molested yelled out the words as Joel, 62, was led from the dock at Wellington District Court after being jailed for four years and nine months yesterday.

Joel had pleaded guilty to 16 charges of indecent assault and inducing boys under 16 to do indecent acts. He had abused one boy for each of the first seven years of a four-decade-long teaching career.

They were aged between seven and 12 years – and one nine-year-old went on to become a convicted paedophile.

In his victim impact statement, that man, now 45, described Joel as his role model. He said he was infatuated but after, being discarded by the teacher, hated being male.

"Evil was how I feel my life became after I met Richard Joel ... my life may have been so much more ... "

Another victim, now 44, recalled being confused when he was abused as a 10-year-old but was afraid to tell anyone because he came from a poor family and felt he would be called a liar.

The Wellington man said the experience had left him with depression and intimacy problems and had tainted his view of Europeans.

"I was shocked, I burst into tears when police came to my home. Since that day I can't stop crying, I couldn't believe [the sexual abuse] was out in the open."

Defence lawyer Shane Robinson told the court that Joel was remorseful and had no previous convictions.

The damage he had done had to be weighed against the positive contribution he made to the lives of many other children, he said.

The teacher had worked at Corinna School in Porirua, Waitangirua Intermediate and Newlands Intermediate and was principal of Rewa Rewa School in Newlands when he was arrested in October.

Mr Robinson said Joel had suffered a "a significant fall from grace", losing his reputation, profession, and standing in the community.

Judge Bruce Davidson said Joel's offending was systematic and sustained, against victims who were very young and inherently vulnerable. "It was a wholesale breach of your trust as a teacher."

Though there appeared to be no further offending after 1976, material found on his computer by police showed Joel "maintained an interest in boys".

Outside court, Detective Sergeant Dan Keno said the victims would have liked to have seen a longer sentence.

"They are satisfied that he will be behind bars and not at risk of reoffending."

Joel faced sentencing as if he had been charged in 1976. Similar offending in 2010 would have seen him charged with sexual violation and receiving a much longer prison term.

Rewa Rewa School board of trustees chairwoman Helen Richards said the school community had been shocked and concerned when Joel was arrested last year and could now move forward.

With stricter background checks on teachers today it was not as feasible for sexual abuse to happen in schools, she said.

From: http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/3804496/Hang-yourself-sex-abuse-victims-tell-ex-principal