Blenheim gymnastics coach pleads guilty to 32 more charges
Tuesday, 5 March 2024
Blenheim gymnastics coach Gregory David Pask, 61, has pleaded guilty to a total of 61 offences involving children.
Over the last two decades, Pask had contact with about 180 children weekly, most of them girls aged between 7 and 11.
Pask will be sentenced on April 17.
A Blenheim gymnastics coach has pleaded guilty to more charges of sexual offences against children.
Gregory David Pask, 61, who last year admitted 29 charges involving several girls aged under 12, has admitted 32 further charges from Christchurch Men’s Prison via audiovisual link at the Blenheim District Court on Tuesday.
The 15 newest charges, laid this week, include three counts of carrying out an indecent act and one count of sexual violation of a child aged under 12, seven charges of sexually violating an unknown victim aged under 12, and four counts of making objectionable material.
The new charges relate to offences committed between December 2015 and September 2023.
Pask also pleaded guilty on Tuesday to 17 charges including indecent acts and sexual violation that he had been facing since his last appearance in December.
He was remanded in custody to sentencing on April 17.
Pask was named a Kiwibank New Zealand Local Hero medallist in 2016 for his work as a volunteer coach of the girls’ recreational grades at the Blenheim Gymnastics Club.
Over two decades, he was a long-serving member of the club committee, helped with many fundraising activities and open days, and acted as equipment co-ordinator.
Pask had contact with about 180 children a week, most of them girls aged between 7 and 11.
As a trusted member of the gymnastics community, he would take the young gymnasts out of Blenheim on overnight trips for competitions without their parents.
After Pask's first guilty pleas in December, Detective Sergeant Ash Clarke, of Marlborough CIB, issued a statement acknowledging Pask’s victims and the ordeal they had been through.
“While the man responsible for the offending has pleaded guilty, police understand that no conviction will ever take back what has happened,” Clarke said.
“He was a well-known figure in the Blenheim community for many years and in continual contact with children and young people.
”Police believe there may be further victims, and we ask anyone who was a victim or their family, to come forward and report what occurred to police.
”We understand it can be hard to come forward and report incidents of this nature, but we would like to reassure you police take these matters seriously and have a number of officers and detectives dedicated to these cases, we will ensure you have a safe space to report offending in confidence.”
Anyone who was a victim of Pask’s was encouraged to contact police on 105, or visit their local police station, and reference the file number 230903/8087.