A Marist Brother who preyed on children was allowed to continue working as a teacher, despite concerns being raised about his inappropriate behaviour 40 years ago.

A Stuff investigation has revealed senior Catholic Church leaders were warned about Brother Michael Beaumont in the 1970s and again in the 1990s – but he was simply allowed to move elsewhere. 

He was still working for the church decades later when he was finally charged with three counts of indecent assault on young girls.

Beaumont, aged 72, was sentenced at the North Shore District Court on Thursday to a year of home detention for indecent assault and possessing obscene fantasy literature. Some of the obscene material depicted children being sexually assaulted by adults and, in one case, a dog.

He had been welcomed into the home for Sunday dinner, and the victim's family were sitting just metres away, with their eyes closed in prayer, when the abuse occurred.

Following the incident, a town meeting was held about Beaumont, the victim, now in her 50s, told Stuff. Her father and other local men were present.

"[Beaumont] was told to stay away from young girls, [that] he was too familiar with them."

The father of the girl has made a sworn police statement which has been seen by Stuff. In it, he said he and other parishioners had noted Beaumont's "over familiarity" with girls in the parish at the time.

There were also concerns about Beaumont's habit of taking photos at church gatherings, as Beaumont's camera lens was often trained on young girls, he said.

The father had seen Beaumont with his hand resting on the upper leg of his 9-year-old daughter on two occasions. While the father had no idea that Beaumont had gone much further, he confronted Beaumont about his interest in girls.

"It was suggested that he remove himself from the prayer group and the youth choir and seek help for his obvious problems. We never used words like 'paedophilia' in those days but that is the problem we were referring to when talking to him."

The father of the girl also raised concerns about Beaumont with the parish priest.

"[I] made him aware of the conversation we had with Brother Michael and our concerns about him taking photos and being around children. Within a very short period of time … Brother Michael [was] removed from the Wairarapa parish. 

"I assumed the matter would be addressed by the appropriate bodies and life went on."

BEAUMONT IN AUCKLAND

It's not clear where Beaumont went after Masterton or if the matter was ever "addressed". But in 1988, Beaumont was in Auckland, teaching at the co-ed Catholic school Marcellin College in Royal Oak.

A mother and father whose then-14-year-daughter attended the school told Stuff that Beaumont would go on to assault the girl on a school camp.

The teen told her mother Beaumont had touched her breast, and despite her asking him to stop, he kept going.

Looking back, the mother said the changes in her daughter after the camp were obvious.

"She went from being one of these girls which was always immaculately dressed ... She started wearing really baggy clothes that didn't fit. She dyed her hair and all of this sort of thing."

The parents backed their daughter, and the mother said she approached the school's principal Brother Roger Dowling to lay a formal complaint.

"He said: 'What do you want me to do about it? It was a camp, it's got nothing to do with the school'."

She called back a week or two later, pointing out the camp had been advertised in the school newsletter and that the school had been responsible for looking after the students, she said.

Dowling responded that he was finding the situation difficult because Beaumont lived with him in the house on school grounds, she said.

"I'm thinking, 'hang on, something is not quite right here'."

After the pair made repeated approaches to the school's board of trustees, it eventually employed a lawyer to look into the matter.

Stuff has tracked down the lawyer, who is now living overseas. She confirmed she had investigated complaints against Beaumont.

"I found substance in the allegations and made a number of recommendations to the school about Michael Beaumont and about school systems," she said.

The complaints were at the "minor end" of sexual abuse, but they were "extremely serious in their context of being perpetrated by a teacher (with religious authority) against a student", she said.

The lawyers report went to the parents of the student and the school. She said she would not comment further on the report to Stuff as she had a duty of confidentiality to the school and the families involved. 

However, she would be willing to speak to the police about the matter, she said.

SCHOOL FAILED TO ACT

By the time the lawyer's report reached Marcellin College, it was nearing the end of the academic year. The mother and father said they were assured by Dowling that Beaumont would not be teaching at the college next year.

But on the first day of classes the following year, the mother got a phone call.

"It was [my daughter] to say: 'Mum, he's here' and the first thing he did was go up and talk to her and it really ... it turned to custard from there."

Beaumont was still on the school's staff. The couple pulled their daughter out of the college shortly afterwards.

The complainant's father says despite removing their daughter, they didn't want Beaumont to have access to other students.

"We said: 'look, the guy shouldn't be teaching' and being a Marist Brother, they could've sent him out to Tuakau, they had a facility of some sort out there and he can look after the gardens or something, rather than teaching."

They weren't interested in dragging the school or the church "through the mud", they just wanted their daughter's abuser gone, they said.

After being met with "a lot of foot shuffling", they approached the leadership of the Marist Brothers at their centre in Epsom.

"They opened the doors and ushered us in like royalty," the mother recalled.

They were greeted by Brother Henry Spinks, who at the time headed up the order's professional standards committee. Other brothers were present taking notes. But again, there was a lack of action, the couple said.

"It was the same old story… 'This is what happened, here's all the steps we've taken and there's all the associated paperwork and this is what we want to have happen…' And nothing did," the father said.

The couple then went to the Catholic Church and met with Bishop Patrick Dunn, but again, nothing happened.

"The Catholic Church didn't want to know anything about it either," the mother said.

A complaint was made to the police and the couple even employed a private law firm to investigate other options, but in the end they had to stop after their daughter began struggling with mental health issues.

"She started self-harming and we thought: 'Well, it's actually hurting her' and we sort of ground to a halt," says the father.

The girl attempted to take her own life and eventually wound up in the children's mental health unit at Auckland's Starship Hospital.

But despite her struggles, and with the help of a counsellor, the young woman eventually turned her life around. She now has a tertiary degree, a career and children of her own.

Stuff contacted Marcellin College, and using the Official Information Act, requested information about the complaints.

In response, Principal Jan Waelen said the school had no staff files from the period and no records of any complaints.

"I cannot find anything and I have no knowledge given it was 30 years ago and I have only been at the college for four years," she said.

She was only able to confirm Beaumont's tenure at the school by going back through school yearbooks.

The Catholic Church and Marist Brothers were contacted for comment on Friday afternoon but Auckland diocese spokeswoman Dame Lyndsay Freer said she could not reach anyone at the Brothers who could comment.

When informed that the parents had met with Bishop Dunn, Dame Lyndsay said it was a matter for the Brothers and not the bishop.

A year after the family approached senior church officials, Beaumont left the college. According to the Teaching Council, Beaumont's teaching certificate expired in 1998. It has never been renewed.

Two years after Beaumont left, a damning Education Review Office report on the school was released. By this time, Dowling had also left. The report questioned the board's appointment procedures after it employed three acting principals in the space of a year.

"The board's attention has been absorbed in trying to resolve the on-going tensions in staff relationships. The board has also had to deal with lengthy investigations of complaints against staff members," the report said.

The ERO does not go into any detail about the nature of the complaints and it is not clear if any of them concerned Beaumont.

BEAUMONT STAYED IN THE CHURCH

Beaumont was charged with the 1970s offending in 2018.

At the time of his initial arrest he was working part-time as an administrative assistant with The Catholic Institute of Aotearoa New Zealand.

The institute's director, Gerald Scanlan, told Stuff in February that Beaumont had finished up with the organisation at Christmas.

Scanlan said the decision had nothing to do with Beaumont's charges.

According to the institute's website, Beaumont fielded calls to the Family Violence Information Line as part of the "It's not OK" campaign. He was stood down from his roles after being charged by the police.

When police executed a search warrant at his home in Auckland's Onehunga in May of the same year, they found a USB drive in his pocket.

That contained disturbing paedophile fantasies that detailed the kidnapping and rape of children, sexual behaviour between children and, in one case, a dog having sex with a child.

Charges in relation to the eight text documents were not laid until July this year.

Judge Jonathan Down said the documents showed Beaumont still had a sexual interest in young girls and ordered that his name be added to the child sex offenders register.

"I am satisfied that you do pose an ongoing risk to the sexual safety of children generally in the community." 

The Auckland victim's parents said they were relieved Beaumont had been sentenced, but they still felt let down by Marcellin College, the Marist Brothers and the Catholic Church.

"I still feel that I have more Christianity in my little finger than they have in their whole body."

WHERE VICTIMS OF SEXUAL VIOLENCE CAN GET HELP

Rape Crisis - 0800 88 33 00 (Will direct you to a nearby centre), follow link for information on local helplines

Victim Support - 0800 842 846 (24hr service)

The Harbour - online support and information for those affected by harmful sexual behaviour

Women's Refuge (For women and children) - crisis line available on 0800 733 843

Safe to talk - 0800 044 334, text 4334 or web chat

Male Survivors Aotearoa (For men) - follow link for regional helplines

If you or someone else is in immediate danger call 111.