A Hawke's Bay music, drama and maths teacher and musician with a classroom career dating back 40 years has been sentenced to three years and four months jail for molesting nine of his female pupils at Havelock North Primary School.
Charles John Michael Harter, 63, was sentenced by Judge David Cameron today in Napier District Court, having pleaded guilty to all charges on September 2, just three weeks after being charged.
Most of the offending happened earlier this year, although some dated back to 2012, during what defence counsel Tony Snell said was Harter's latest bout of depression, triggered by the death of his former wife in the Carterton air balloon tragedy.
Most of the offences, repeated numerously on most victims, involved touching in the breast area, the two most serious being skin-to-skin. There was some lesser touching in the groin area, over the outside of clothing.
Offences occurred in Harter's studio at home or at the school, involving girls mainly initially contacted within group music tuition at the school.
About 12 members of victims' families were in court but none of the victim impact statements were read to the court.
In one interview, Harter admitted to being aroused by the offending and both Crown prosecutor Rebecca Guthrie and the Judge were concerned Harter appeared to try to minimise his offending by offloading some blame onto the children.
Hastings investigator Detective Lisa Todd said afterwards the families were "devastated" and were not commenting at the time.
Judge Cameron set a starting point for sentence at four-and-a-half years based on the two most serious offences and the multiple number of crimes, and declined to offer any reduction for previous good character, nor claims of remorse. He did however make a 25 per cent reduction by taking into account the early admission, which alleviated any need for victims to give evidence to any courts.
The starting point matched the submission made by Mr Snell, but Crown prosecutor Rebecca Guthrie had sought a starting point at six years.
Harter's teaching career started in Masterton and also included Wellington before he moved to Hawke's Bay. He had been well-knowm in musical production circles, he founded a threat company in Wellington, and he once appeared in a panel on a television programme helping students solve homework problems.
- By Doug Laing of the Hawke's Bay Today
