A primary school teacher who admitted five counts of indecent assault on boys under the age of 12, in humiliating assaults and violations using bananas, was sentenced to a total of one year and 10 months in jail, with one year suspended.

“This is sexual offending with children by a person in trust,” said Mr Justice C. B. Cato, in a sentence issued by the Supreme Court of Tonga on March 8.

He said that although Tevita Po’ese Mahe was a first offender, the court had an obligation to protect children against conduct of this kind. He did not consider that the conduct where the boys would shame each other was for fun’s sake, as the probation report opined. “I consider these are serious departures from…the ordinary standards of decency,” Justice Cato said.

At the time of the offending on 14 September 2015 the teacher, then aged 24, had in his care four primary school students aged between 9 and 11 years.

Instructed

The court was told that the children went with the teacher to a tax allotment to get produce, coconuts and bananas. They were on the back of a truck.

On the return journey the teacher was frustrated because some of the boys drank the coconuts. While they were driving along he told the complainants to lie down. He made the boys in turn take off their pants and instructed others to rub banana on their buttocks, and gave his mobile phone to one to take photos.

The accused then took a banana and sexually violated one boy and told another boy to do the same to one of the others. Others were also indecently assaulted by ordering their pants to be removed and other boys touching them on the buttocks with a banana, said the judge.

“I was informed by his counsel that there was no injury to the boys,” he said.

The boys did not make a complaint but the prosecution arose through another boy telling his parents what had happened.

The judge also noted that it is impossible to assess what, if any, long term effect this kind of offending will have on the boys.

“The sentence imposed must be one which protects the young and vulnerable people from any kind of sexual exploitation, and deter others minded to use their authority, such as being a school teacher for such a purpose.”

“Because of the plain breach of trust that was involved here and the fact that the sexual activity involved actual anal penetration on two occasions and also the fact that the conduct was humiliating and in the presence of other boys, I consider a sentence of imprisonment is required,” said the judge.

He said the starting point for the offences was three and a half years jail. However, after taking into account the probation report, and his inexperience as a teacher at the time, he allowed mitigation of twenty months imprisonment, meaning that the offender was sentenced to only one year and 10 months in jail.

The prisoner came from a good family with parents involved in teaching and religion. He had worked for a bank before he took up teaching. The judge said that by his guilty plea the offender had saved the boys any further humiliation, and he had expressed remorse and apologized.

The final 12 months was suspended with probation on conditions that he commit no further offences and that he attend a course on child abuse under the direction of probation. The sentence was backdated to the time of his remand in custody.

Mr Justice Cato ordered suppression of the names of the complainant and the school.

Ms Moa was counsel for the Prosecution and Mr Tu’utafaiva for the Defendant.