A former student of a New Zealand teacher has come forward about complaints she made about him months before it was discovered that he had allegedly been having sexual relations with another student.
Epsom Girls Grammar (EGGS) music teacher Peter Thomas reportedly engaged in a sexual relationship with a student, who stated that he gifted her a sex toy and asked her for sex. He "prevailed on [the student] to have sex with him, which ... was painful but to which she felt she could not say no" according to a Teacher's Disciplinary Tribunal judging Thomas for misconduct.
However, another student reportedly submitted complaints against Thomas months before his inappropriate relationship with the student was exposed by the New Zealand Herald.
An EGGS student, who wished to remain anonymous, allegedly complained about Thomas to a school counsellor in 2018, when she was a Year 12 student. She stated that Thomas had erections in class "more often than not". She echoed the same grievances to another school counsellor in 2019.
After bringing her complaints up the chain of command to deputy principal Karen Dempsey, the student agreed to have her identity revealed to Thomas to allow the school to sufficiently investigate his conduct. However, the investigation found no evidence of misconduct from Thomas.
"This was the finding of the school. I agreed with that finding" a lawyer for Thomas told the Herald.
The student who submitted the complaint was then asked to sign a "student plan to maintain safety at school", preventing her from entering the school's music department again.
"[The student] is not to go to the music department for any reason," says the May 2019 document obtained by the Herald.
"If [the student] wishes to attend a school music event either at school or offsite [she] is expected to discuss this with [the counsellor] well beforehand."
"[The student] will respect the need for all matters related to the allegations she presented in term 1 and the subsequent investigation, to be kept private and confidential," it continues.
"It was crushing, I remember just feeling like, 'oh, yeah, my music career was definitely over'," the student told the Herald. "I feel like wasted potential... If I had just stayed quiet I could have a career."
Principal Brenda McNaughton emailed parents about Thomas' conduct following the publication of the article exposing his inappropriate relationship with a student.
"You may have noticed that the New Zealand Herald has today published a story concerning details of historic[al] allegations of sexual misconduct against our former staff member Peter Thomas," the email read.
"Our primary concern should always be for the safety and welfare of our students and other members of our school community, and we are constantly reviewing our protocol to ensure it is as robust as possible for the protection of the girls," it continued.
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