Press Release

Judge calls ex- school teacher behaviour ‘depraved’

In the Christchurch District Court Judge Farish sentenced 56 year old Graeme Andrew Joblin to 20 years in jail for sexually assaulting boys saying : "This offending could be described as depraved in the extreme. I have searched and there are no other cases which have offending at this unprecedented level,"

A child protection agency ECPAT Child ALERT endorses this strong sentence. “Not only does this send a strong message to child molesters, it also prevents further victims being abused and allows an effective amount of time for the offender to seek treatment and change his attitudes and behaviour before he is released into society again.”

The former Wellington teacher who raped runaway teenage boys, groomed vulnerable young boys he met while busking in Christchurch city centre. He plied them with alcohol and drugs before taking advantage of them by raping and indecently attacking them.

ECPAT Child ALERT is alarmed to see yet another case of boys being sexually molested by a person deliberately and methodically using his influence to exert control over vulnerable children. “We are seeing many cases of boys being molested and this should make parents especially cautious about where their sons are and who they are with. This offender obviously knew how to manipulate boys to his advantage over a long period of years and in doing so has left a trail of damaged lives. One reason that boys are targeted is the knowledge that they are often more reluctant to report the fact that they have been abused and they tend to keep this a secret.”

The boys were all aged between 13 and 17 when Joblin preyed on them. He was found guilty on 23 charges and has a minimum non-parole period of seven years.

One victim said in a victim impact statement that Joblin had abused him while he was a pupil at a Wellington school where Joblin was an English teacher in the late 70s and early 80s. He later moved to Christchurch where he sexually assaulted eight at-risk boys while busking in the city centre.

ECPAT Child ALERT works to prevent Child Prostitution, Child Pornography and Child Trafficking.

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