Teacher at elite girls’ school had sexual relationship with 16-year-old student

Please note this story contains details that may upset some readers.

A teacher at a Christchurch private school had a sexual relationship with a 16-year-old girl who he’d groomed by buying her a birthday present, giving her poetry, and sending her near daily messages, including naked videos and photos of himself.

For nearly a year, Taurapa, formerly known as Connor Taurapa Matthews, tried to hide the highly inappropriate intimate relationship he was having with the Year-12 Rangi Ruru student – kissing and groping her in a room he knew wasn’t monitored by security cameras, and meeting her after hours.

However, the severe abuse of his position was exposed in 2019 when staff at another private school became suspicious of his behaviour, and one photographed his car outside the girl’s home late at night.

Details of the case, one of the worst of its kind, can be reported for the first time after a damning Teachers Disciplinary Tribunal decision was made public on Monday.

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“This type of conduct strikes at the heart of the teacher-student relationship. It is at the most serious end of serious misconduct cases that come before the Tribunal,” the decision says.

The Rangi Ruru student, Helena Dray, waived suppression normally granted to victims of such wrongdoing, while Taurapa’s attempts to keep his name secret were rejected.

Taurapa’s serious misconduct left Dray “bouncing around a dangerous myriad of thoughts and feelings”, the decision says.

“He showered her in communication, attention and affection. Some days she thought they were ‘in love’. He rapidly moved her through a range of intimate chapters. Mental and emotional impact began to occur during the relationship. Even if … Dray was predisposed to that, they were certainly exacerbated by Taurapa. We accept the effect on her has been significant.”

Taurapa worked at Rangi Ruru from 2018 to April 2019 as a Te Reo Māori teacher and was involved in various performing arts groups. During the same period, he was a live-in boarding house tutor at Christ’s College, a private school for boys, and also worked as a kaiako at Te Kura Kaupapa Māori O Te Whānau Tahi, a total immersion Māori language school.

In an affidavit to the Tribunal, Dray said in 2018, then aged 15, she and several other Rangi Ruru students were in a Snapchat group with Taurapa where their Te Reo studies were discussed. Then, Taurapa began messaging her privately via the app, and their conversations became increasingly personal.

On her 16th birthday, Taurapa, then aged in his early 20s, gifted Dray a writing journal. He also gave her two poems, including a romantic one titled “Words of Love”.

In the weeks that followed, their conversations became more sexual, and he asked Dray about masturbation, she said in her affidavit.

The pair first spent time alone together one evening in Taurapa’s classroom at Rangi Ruru where they watched a musical played by a projector. Taurapa had made an area of pillows and blankets for them to sit in. He kissed her and touched her breasts.

Not long after, Dray and Taurapa were involved in a combined Rangi Ruru and Christ’s College musical production.

Rehearsals were in the evenings and at weekends.

In her affidavit, Dray said Taurapa met with her several times in the dressing rooms at Christ’s College, where he kissed and groped her.

Taurapa told her a room they used did not have any security cameras. He’d made it clear to her that their relationship had to be kept secret – asking her to delete their conversations from her phone.

In her affidavit, Dray said Taurapa offered to drop her home after rehearsals. He’d hold her hand in the car, tell her to duck down when they were driving around town, and kiss her before they parted ways.

As their relationship ramped up, so too did talk about sex.

The pair exchanged naked photos via messaging, some of which she said he knew were of her when she was 15.

Taurapa sent videos of himself masturbating, and encouraged her to do the same for him – something she reluctantly agreed to do for him once live on camera.

Dray said that while Taurapa appeared to have a line in the sand when it came to having intercourse with her, they discussed her performing oral sex on him.

Not long after, when Taurapa was driving her home after a school activity, he took her to a secluded spot. Dray said she performed oral sex on Taurapa, despite not wanting to. He also performed a sex act on her.

Dray confided in a friend about her relationship with Taurapa. In an affidavit, the friend, known as Witness A, talked about the emotional toll the relationship took on Dray, who attempted suicide in about August 2018. Witness A said that one day Dray would say that she thought she was being groomed by Taurapa, and the next she’d say she thought she was in love with him.

By March 2019, two Christ’s College staff who were involved in performing arts had become suspicious of Taurapa’s relationship with Dray, the Tribunal’s decision says.

Months earlier, Taurapa had flagged concerns about Dray’s mental health with them, saying he’d gone to see her late at night after receiving distressed messages from her.

Then, over the summer holidays Dray had visited Christ’s College looking for him.

So, after Taurapa was seen sitting alone with her at a movie night he’d arranged for his Rangi Ruru class at the Christ’s College theatre on March 11, 2019 one of the staffers took action.

Later that night, after Taurapa left the school in his car, the staffer drove to Dray’s house and photographed Taurapa’s car parked outside. Taurapa and the teenager were in the vehicle at the time.

The following morning, the two Christ’s College staff members reported concerns about Taurapa’s relationship with Dray to the school’s associate principal. Two days later they also emailed Rangi Ruru’s principal.

It wasn’t the first time concerns had been raised about Taurapa’s conduct.

A month earlier, the parents of a teenage girl who worked part-time at Christ’s College’s, complained about messages he’d been sending her via Snapchat.

They were worried about the age difference, and their daughter’s inexperience with relationships.

According to the Tribunal’s decision, Taurapa befriended the girl, known as Ms Y, in 2018 when she was aged 16 and asked her for her Snapchat details.

In the months that followed, he requested pictures of the teenager in a bikini, asked her to go on dates, such as punting on the Avon River, or meet with him in his room at Christ’s College – invitations which she declined. He also brought the girl a pair of earrings for her 17th birthday, and paid for her dinner when she visited his family owned restaurant while he was working.

After receiving the complaint, the girl’s boss spoke to Taurapa about the parents’ concerns. Taurapa said he would not contact Ms Y again. It’s unclear from the decision what action the school took in response to the complaint.

There is a suppression order related to her employment.

In April 2019, Taurapa quit his teaching job while under investigation by Rangi Ruru, and the matter was referred to the Teaching Council.

Initially, Taurapa denied any wrongdoing, but later, when confronted with further evidence, accepted he had engaged in serious misconduct and breached his professional obligations by trying to help Dray with her mental health.

As an inexperienced teacher, he said he had failed to comprehend the difference between the Māori cultural values regarding his responsibilities to young people and the professional boundaries of teaching.

He strenuously denied any implication that he’d had a romantic relationship with Dray, and planned to defend charges brought against him by the Teaching Council’s Complaints Assessment Committee.

However, in the lead up to the hearing, a Teaching Council investigator obtained the affidavit from Dray, which was supported by her friend’s witness statement, photographs of the birthday present Taurapa had bought her, and screenshots of messages between the pair.

Taurapa didn’t challenge the new evidence. He also elected not to engage in the hearing, or make any substantive submissions – a decision, he said, which was made on legal advice due to what were “perceived to be other legal implications in other jurisdictions”.

The Tribunal’s decision says the legitimacy of Dray’s affidavit was carefully considered “and we have no reasonable doubts about it being correct”. “The entire picture now fits into place and makes sense. The entire account of Ms Dray … is found to be proven.”

In her affidavit, Dray said she had only recently, through counselling, come to realise that she was the victim of Taurapa’s behaviour. She said she had suffered mentally and physically, and had difficulties “interacting with male authority figures”.

She had also struggled to continue with Te Reo studies, because of the connection she drew with Taurapa.

“We find that [Taurapa] both risked, and did cause, significant harm to Ms Dray through his conduct.

“We also find … that Taurapa attempted a similar relationship with Ms Y. Fortunately he was unsuccessful on that occasion, before similar harm could be done.”

The Tribunal ordered the cancellation of Taurapa’s teacher’s registration. It noted that it was not aware of any criminal complaint, or police investigation into his conduct. Both Rangi Ruru and Christ’s College had acted appropriately when concerns were raised, the decision says.

Taurapa is no longer a tutor at Christ’s College or employed by Te Kura Kaupapa Māori O Te Whānau Tahi.

In July last year he was hired by Stuff as a full-time te reo Māori translator.

A spokesperson for the media organisation said: “Taurapa is no longer an employee of Stuff. Stuff fully supports people who speak out and challenge those who abuse positions of trust and authority. We expect our staff to adhere to high standards of conduct and where they fall short of this, we take appropriate action.

Taurapa was not aware of Stuff’s story when he was contacted for a response. He didn’t comment to the Tribunal and wasn’t going to comment to Stuff, he said.

Taurapa is from a well known whānau in Canterbury. His father, Hector, is a senior manager at Te Whatu Ora Waitaha-Canterbury (formerly the Canterbury District Health Board), while his siblings Anton and Maia own a bilingual restaurant, Fush, in Wigram.