Teachers caught with child porn deregistered

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Two male teachers caught with sexual images of children on their laptops have been banned from teaching.

In two unrelated cases, the men had images and movies on their laptops of young girls in explicit sexual poses.

Their deregistrations are revealed in the latest Teachers Disciplinary Tribunal findings which have been released following court action which saw both men jailed.

While the tribunal does not name defendants or identify the schools they were teaching at, the first case relates to Francis Stephen Glenski, a former teacher at Auckland's Avondale College.

Glenski, 48, took his laptop to school to be upgraded by the IT department. IT staff discovered images on his computer of naked young girls and videos of three different girls taking a shower, which were passed to police. Two of the girls were Asian exchange students.

Glenski pleaded guilty to two counts of making objectionable material and one of possessing objectionable material on his computer. He was jailed for 16 months in October 2008. At the time, the judge said there was no similar New Zealand case, meaning Glenski's sentence set a precedent.

In the second case, the man was acting as a relief teacher and housemaster at a school hostel while also studying at university. The 40-year-old admitted he had an interest in underage girls and that it was a problem. He had purchased access to five illegal websites but was found not to be involved in file sharing.

The images involved girls aged between eight and 15 in explicit sexual acts and poses and there was also a number of objectionable movies.

The man's collection was discovered after a tip-off from British police who had discovered his name in a list of purchasers of online images and movies featuring children being sexually abused. Following discussions with inspectors from Internal Affairs, the man resigned as housemaster.

He later wrote to the tribunal saying he profoundly regretted his actions and apologised unreservedly. "Words cannot express how much I regret losing my position at the hostel where I enjoyed some of the best experiences of my working life. Losing contact with the students there has been ample punishment in itself."

He was convicted on eight charges under the Films, Videos and Publications Classification Act and was last year sentenced to seven months' jail.

In both cases the tribunal concluded it had no option but to deregister the teachers. It also said deregistered teachers can apply to the New Zealand Teachers Council to be re-registered but in the case of Glenski it would be "very surprised" if the council considered re-registering him in the foreseeable future.

- © Fairfax NZ News