TEFLON TAURAPA

The Sex Pest who got by with more than a little help from his Friends

Taurapa was formerly named Connor Taurapa Matthews. Somewhere along his slimy trail he formally changed his name to the singular & bold “Taurapa”.

Taurapa qualified as a teacher in 2017. From 2018 to 2019 he worked as a Māori language teacher at private girls-only Christchurch school Rangi Ruru. During this period Taurapa was also residing in a boarding house at Christ’s College, in some amorphous capacity.

But teaching was far from Taurapa’s only activity at Rangi Ruru. Taurapa, in his 20s, sexually groomed then Year-12 student Helena Dray and consummated a sexual relationship with her, beginning in April 2018.  To help expose the tawdry Taurapa, and the education system’s abject failure to deal with him, Dray has courageously allowed herself to be publicly identified.

Brave Dray was not the only object of Taurapa’s lecherous attentions. From September 2018 Taurapa cultivated then 16-year-old “Ms Y” (who has name suppression). Ms Y was not a student at either Rangi Ruru or Christ’s. She was just unlucky enough to be working for a contractor at Christ’s, where Taurapa latched onto her.

After complaints about him, Taurapa resigned from Rangi Ruru in March 2019, but continued on his merry way at Christ’s.

Christ’s College was told about Taurapa’s relationships with Dray and Ms Y in 2019, including by Christ’s own staff. And Christ’s chose to do nothing, including not to tell the Teaching Council about Taurapa. (Taurapa eventually left Christ’s in December 2021, claiming he was a victim of racism. Taurapa has attributed his dodgy conduct to exonerating differences between Māori cultural values surrounding responsibilities to young people, and professional boundaries in teaching.)

The Teaching Council caught wind of Taurapa’s sexual predation in 2019, but chose to do nothing except ask its Teachers Disciplinary Tribunal to investigate. The Council could and should have stooden Taurapa down from teaching in 2019, but didn’t. Taurapa refused to engage with the investigation, except to flatly deny in writing any intimate relationships. The Tribunal rejected Taurapa’s denials. It would take four years - until 2023 – for the Teaching Council to eventually cancel Taurapa’s teacher registration.

By the time Taurapa left Christ’s in 2021, one would like to think he was running out of road. But you can’t keep good woody Taurapa down for long. Taurapa launched a media career, becoming a darling podcaster and Māori language expert with media channel Stuff. He also appears to have continued to lurk at a Christchurch full immersion Māori educational facility, Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Te Whānau Tahi, and at Christchurch’s Hornby High School.

Confronted with Taurapa’s past activities and deregistration as a teacher, Stuff reluctantly let him go in 2023.

But Te Puni Kōkiri (TPK), New Zealand’s Ministry of Māori Development, has stepped up to extend extraordinary pastoral care to Taurapa. Fully aware of Taurapa’s predatory capabilities, TPK hired him in December 2023, apparently looking for different capabilities. Taurapa was hired as a “senior adviser in [TPK’s] Māori capability team’”, a role he possibly still enjoys. Head of TPK, Dave Samuels, has admitted he’s known Taurapa and his whanau for decades. A TPK spokesperson has however denied that Samuels was in any way involved in Taurapa’s hiring. Samuels has purported to instigate a formal “independent” investigation of how TPK came to hire Taurapa.

Intrigued by all this, yours truly McSubstack has made the following request under the Official Information Act…

And received the following interim reply…

There’s no suggestion Taurapa has committed any crime. And we’re all into reasonable second chances. But let’s hope Aotearoa’s race-based immunity cloaks are now fading in the sunlight.