Auckland ex-teacher says he shared bed with boy because ‘it was a place to sleep'

The man denies the offending. Photo / Thinkstock A former Auckland teacher on trial for allegedly sexually abusing two boys says he shared a bed with one of the boys 'simply because it was a place to sleep'. The elderly man, who has interim name suppression, is facing eight historic abuse charges in relation to two boys, including several counts of indecency with a child and threatening to kill. Two of the initial 10 charges were dismissed in court yesterday. Defence lawyer Nicholas Mani told the Auckland District Court jury his client denied the allegations. While an accused person did not have to give evidence, the defendant opted to take the witness stand in his own defence. Several of his family members were also scheduled to give evidence, including about one of the complainants allegedly 'stealing and lying'. 'They will tell you they never saw anything inappropriate' between the defendant and the complainants at his house, he said. The ex-teacher said one of the boys stayed in his home about eight to 10 times, later saying he stayed in his bed five or six times. 'I had a large bed and he would sleep on the side of the windows and I would sleep on ... the side of the door.' The defendant said his mother used to say men should sleep by the door 'because the man should be the protector so he would be awake first'. Asked why he had shared the bed with the complainant, the defendant said: 'Simply because it was a place to sleep. 'Sometimes, if they were available, I'd put pillows down the centre of the bed but not always. It was just a matter of what was available.' He claimed one of the boys only stayed in his bed once and only due to an issue with his spare bed. The ex-teacher told the court that the other complainant slept in his bedroom because he couldn't be 'trusted' not to steal things from other rooms in the home. Prosecutor Clare Antenen said the man had indicated in his evidence that the boys had slept in his room as there was nowhere else to sleep. He responded by saying he could not trust one of the boys not to steal and it would have been too cold in his downstairs room for the boy. However, she then reminded him that he had earlier said in evidence that other people had sometimes slept in the downstairs room. She then asked whether the two boys he acknowledged sleeping in a room with could have slept elsewhere in the home. 'They were quite happy,' the man said of the boys' sleeping arrangements in his room. He told the prosecutor he had shared a bed with one of the boys five or six times: 'It wasn't all that many.' Referring to his earlier account that they had shared a bed only once, she responded: 'There's a big difference in what you said in your interview with police and what you've said today.' He told her it had been '34 years' since the alleged offending. 'If he did [sleep in the bed] he was quite happy to, it was never compulsory.' She also referenced a comment he had previously given to police about whether he found children sexually interesting. 'In a vague area, possibly yes, but it's something I would never act on … A bit titillating, I suppose," he earlier told police. In regard to one of the complainants, the defendant agreed he had taken images of him, some posed, some shirtless. 'I posed the top half of him in certain positions.' However, and 'mainly' because of where he got the photos developed, he said none of the images were 'salacious'. Katie Harris is an Auckland-based journalist who covers issues such as sexual assault, workplace misconduct, media, crime and justice. She joined the Herald in 2020. Sign up to The Daily H , a free newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday. Middlemore Hospital nurses say they were asked to work while unwell.