He also denied adding Anna on TikTok, and instead said it was Anna who added him.
He said any inappropriate touching “simply didn’t happen”.
“That’s the clear position.”
‘It made me feel sick and weirded out’
In her statement to the tribunal, Anna said at first she thought “he was a really nice teacher, but then he got a bit too nice”.
“[Teacher] would hug me every time he saw me.”
The first alleged incident was around August 2022, when it was just her and the teacher in the classroom during either morning tea or lunch.
She walked into class while she was crying.
The teacher gave her a hug and put his hand on her lower back, then slowly rubbed it while moving it down her back, she said.
“He did this while moving his hand down my back until he was touching my bottom.
“This made me feel sick and weirded out.”
She claimed the next incident involved him again rubbing her back before moving his hand towards her bottom.
She then told him that she was going to go and play.
There was also another occasion when he inappropriately touched her, but she didn’t think that anyone else would have seen it.
She told the tribunal that she felt the teacher treated her differently, or gave her an “easier time” about some issues than other students would get.
After that, she tried to keep her distance, but at one point mentioned that she might change schools.
He asked her which school.
He then followed her there.
The first time she saw him there, she ran over and gave him a hug, saying she did so because she had forgotten “what he was like” in their earlier interactions.
“I was excited to see him because I hadn’t seen him in quite a while.
“This hug went on for quite a while … but he didn’t move his hand down.”
She said there was another time where he allegedly inappropriately touched her out in the field.
“He then put his hand on my lower back and asked how my day was going and if I was having fun.
“I don’t think anyone saw this.
“This touching made me feel disgusted.”
She also spoke of another incident, when she had a dress on, and the teacher went over and told her she looked older than she was.
“[Teacher] then hugged me and rubbed my back and moved [his hand] down towards my bum.
“I felt really uncomfortable and asked my friend to get my jacket.”
Regarding the TikTok allegations, she said the teacher used it as a teaching resource and he started following her on the social media platform and watching her videos.
He started messaging her to say, “Hi” and asked how she was doing, and would send her love heart emojis.
Her parents then stopped her account as they didn’t approve of her using the platform.
However, she then got a new account and alleged that the teacher started following her.
He began messaging her outside school hours and sending love heart emojis.
Her parents saw the communications and contacted the school.
‘He never touched you’
In questioning from Cornege about how many times she received inappropriate hugs, she said, “Whenever there were no people around”.
He then put it to her that, initially, she had mentioned only one incident involving an inappropriate hug.
“I don’t remember,” she said.
“Do you remember then telling people there were two incidents, not four?” he asked her.
“I don’t want to talk to you,” she responded.
Cornege then put to her that when people had initially asked her if there were other incidents, she had said, “no”.
She said the incidents had happened several years ago.
She denied making them all up.
He put to her that she ran up to him at the second school because he was someone that she liked and respected.
“I don’t know,” she replied.
“You did that because he never touched you.
“You would not have run up to him if he had touched you the way [you say] he did,” Cornege put to her.
“And he did,” she replied, emphatically.
Cornege put to her that in reality, he never touched her at all.
“He did,” she replied.
‘It wasn’t a normal hug’
The then-principal of the school Anna was attending when the allegations surfaced recalled the teacher turning up one day in her classroom.
She said Anna went up to the teacher and hugged him.
“It wasn’t like a normal hug.
“It was over-friendly and lasted longer than I would expect between a teacher and a student.
“It was a lingering hug, and teachers and students don’t typically hug like that.”
She said it seemed like the teacher then made a “beeline” for her, and then it all became about “[teacher] and [student].
The teacher seemed “happily surprised” to see her and “forgot where he was”, she said.
“I remember thinking I have never encountered [that] before.
“It caught me completely off-guard.
“I thought it was quite unprofessional.”
She said the student’s behaviour changed around the time the claims surfaced, with her getting into trouble at school and becoming “a compulsive liar”.
Asked by Cornege what the student was lying about, she said she couldn’t recall.
“So it’s possible she was lying before [these alleged incidents happened]?”
“That is correct,” she said.
‘I was just thinking about her’
The then-deputy principal asked the teacher why he was messaging her so late at night and he told her that “he would be watching TV or falling asleep and he would be thinking of reaching out to her, so would just message and send quick love hearts”.
“He said once he explained his intentions to her parents he was sure they would understand.”
She later met with Anna’s parents, who expressed concern that the teacher might be stalking her, or turn up at their house.
The hearing will conclude tomorrow.
*Name has been changed.
Belinda Feek is an Open Justice reporter based in Waikato. She has worked at NZME for 11 years and has been a journalist for 22.