Raumati Parents Warned

About Double Rapist

February 11, 2010

By Alan Tristram

The parents of 600 pupils at Raumati Beach School have been warned about the imminent arrival of a convicted double rapist who plans to live in a near-by street.

The rapist, Justin Johnston, who has spent more than 15 years behind bars, is set to move into Margaret Road, Raumati, just around the corner from the Raumati Beach School, which has a roll of just under 600 primary pupils.

And he’ll be in the same road as Kapiti College, which has 1100 pupils.

Justin Johnston, 39, was first freed from prison last August after serving more than 15 years for two rapes – one involving a 26-year-old woman, the other a 15-year-old girl.

He has been back in prison after breaching his release conditions, but is due for probably release on February 15.

Letters says MP’s contacted

Today Mike Farrelly, principle of Raumati Beach School, sent a letter to his pupils’ parents saying:

“The School views this situation with grave concern.

“We are using the school’s ‘Keeping Ourselves Safe’ health programme to remind children of the importance of walking together, and not approaching strangers or their cars, etc, without causing them undue alarm”

He added: “We are in communication with Kapiti College and with local authorities to express our concerns and to ensure the children are kept safe at all times.”

“We are also contacting our local Members of Parliament to seek support.”

Principals meet police

Mr Farrelly and the Principal of Kapiti College, Tony Cane, also had talks with Kapiti Police today about measures to ensure the safety of their schools’ pupils.

Mr Cane said he “just cannot understand the logic” of allowing a double rapist to live near 1700 students.

“It’s just madness,” he said.

After the meeting with police, Mr Cane also said there is a police plan ‘to manage’ the situation and he is reasonably confident it can work, but “I do not know for sure.”

He added: “You do not want to have people looking over their shoulders. You do not want kids getting too fearful.”

“ A right to be here.”

He summed up his feelings this way:

“You do not want to have someone (living nearby) who appears to be a danger.

“But he has a right to be here. So I would rather the kids know the danger.”

It appears likely that parents of Kapiti College students – like the parents of Raumati Beach School — will get letters from their Principal warning them about the situation.

100 Years Ago — and the Maori Long March begins

Māori politics was dominated by the influential MPs (and sometime Cabinet ministers) Māui Pōmare ( Waitara statue photo above) and Apirana Ngata.

The 1920's also saw the rise of Tahupōtiki Wiremu Rātana’s religious movement, and the emergence of Te Puea Hērangi in Waikato.

Ngata worked hard to foster Māori scholarship and education and preserve traditional arts and culture.

He convinced the government to establish a Board of Maori Ethnological Research (1923), a Maori Purposes Fund Control Board (1924) and a School of Maori Arts and Crafts in Rotorua (1927).

The Reform government also took the first, tentative steps towards settling longstanding Māori grievances.

Agreements with Te Arawa in 1922 and Ngāti Tūwharetoa in 1926 recognised their respective rights over the Rotorua lakes and Lake Taupō, and led to the establishment of trust boards with some government funding.

Commissions of inquiry which examined Ngāi Tahu grievances (1920–21) and the Waikato and Taranaki confiscations (1926–27) recommended that modest compensation be paid.