LAWRENCE SMITH/Things
The former deputy principal of Dilworth School, Ian Robert Wilson, at Auckland Court, where he was jailed for sexually abusing boys under his care.
Dilworth’s former assistant principal has been paroled for the second time because he remains an untreated sex offender and does not have a suitable address.
Ian Robert Wilson was sentenced to: three years and seven months in jail in March 2021 after confession of sexual assault charges against five boys under his care.
He appeared on Tuesday for the second time before the Parole Board, where a panel led by Judge Eddie Paul rejected his parole.
Judge Paul said Wilson will be seen again in 12 months.
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Judge Paul said Wilson had started one-on-one counseling but had only had three of the 15 sessions so far.
When asked where he would live after he was released, Wilson said he might have to move into a halfway house.
stuff understands that Wilson has a house in Auckland, but it is about 300 meters from a primary school.
Delivered
Dilworth survivor Neil Harding urged the probation service to keep Wilson behind bars for the sake of the community.
One of Wilson’s survivors, Neil Harding, leads a class action against Dilworth School to the Human Rights Commission.
He made a strong victim statement at Wilson’s 2021 conviction and addressed the Parole Board in a private hearing on Tuesday morning. In his statement, shared with stuff, Harding asked the board to keep Wilson in prison.
He said the devastation caused by Wilson and his former colleagues had taken a toll on 15 former students who had taken their own lives.
Harding said he was sure Wilson had been a model prisoner, but he urged the board to exercise caution.
“He always knew how to work with the system, and luckily for everyone there are no little guys in prison to test this.”
At Wilson’s first probation hearing in JuneWilson was faced with a barrage of questions about whether any more survivors of his sex crimes might come forward.
There was a long pause and an exhalation before Wilson answered. “Well, not that I know of.”
Parole Board member Alan Hackney pointed out that when Wilson was convicted of his first offense in 1997, he committed no other offenses.
David White/Things
Ian Robert Wilson appears in Auckland court, where he admits charges related to historic child sex crimes.
Wilson replied, “It wasn’t brought up by the police at the time and no, I didn’t either.”
Hackney didn’t let it go, though: “They couldn’t bring up something they didn’t know, but you did. Was that an extremely scary time for you, because you thought all those other victims would emerge from the woodwork?”
Wilson said, “I didn’t consider that then.”
By rejecting Wilson’s parole offer, the board of directors recognized that Wilson had a low risk of reoffending, but that the harm of any reoffending would be “enormous.”
Wilson joined Dilworth in 1975. He was involved in the Scout group, was a caretaker and taught history and te reo Māori.
In 1988, he was promoted to assistant senior school principal, a role he held until he was charged with sexual misconduct against a boy in 1996.
Shortly before he left Dilworth, Wilson was… given a glowing reference to then director Dr. Murray Wilton.
He was fined but given name suppression and taught at the Manukau Institute of Technology for nearly 20 years before being charged with further violations.