A former teacher at Kelston Boys’ High School, which has long served a large Tongan and wider Pacific student community in West Auckland, has been convicted of sexually abusing two boys more than three decades ago.
An Auckland District Court jury found Murray Sakey, now in his mid-70s, guilty of seven indecency charges following an eight-day trial.
He was acquitted of one charge of threatening to kill.
Sakey, a former music teacher, had worked at Kelston Boys’ and also held music practices involving children at his West Auckland home.
The two complainants separately came forward decades after the alleged abuse.
Their decision followed publicity surrounding Sakey’s earlier conviction for possessing hundreds of child exploitation images.
In 2024, Sakey was sentenced to five months’ home detention and 15 months’ intensive supervision after pleading guilty to three charges of possessing objectionable publications.
Police had found hundreds of objectionable images on his devices and a USB drive.
During the latest trial, Sakey acknowledged that he found children attractive and admitted sleeping in the same bed as the boys, but denied sexually abusing them.
One complainant described Sakey as having become almost a “father figure” to him before the abuse occurred.
The other had first reported allegations against Sakey to police in 2002, but the case was not progressed at the time.
The jury ultimately rejected Sakey’s denials and convicted him on seven charges.
Sakey was taken into custody following the verdict and has been remanded until sentencing.
Source: The New Zealand Herald.
