Oranga Tamariki employee claims he showed youths sexual content to distract them, banter was ‘misunderstood’

Monday, 15 June 2026

A Christchurch youth worker who used sexist and derogatory language and showed young people inappropriate adult content has failed to get his job back by claiming his “banter” was misunderstood.

Former Te Puna Wai employee Wiremu Caldwell has lost his case for reinstatement, compensation and lost wages in the Employment Relations Authority (ERA), three years after Oranga Tamariki (OT) publicly distanced itself from the then-unnamed worker.

The ERA determination revealed Caldwell was one of two workers referenced in a 2023 press conference as being stood down for “serious allegations” of “inappropriate sexual behaviour”.

Then-chief executive of Oranga Tamariki, Chappie Te Kani, announced an investigation at the time. At the press conference he said the employees were “no longer part of OT”.

Caldwell was suspended on full pay while the organisation and police investigated allegations. No charges were laid and, according to the ERA determination, police appeared to drop the matter in 2025.

The language used at the press conference was one of a long list of reasons why Caldwell and his representative, National Union of Public Employees’ Janice Gemmell, told the ERA he had been unfairly dismissed for serious misconduct.

Caldwell felt his colleagues had been determined to get rid of him and the process had been unfair.

There were mitigating factors, he said, including that he had never worked with women before and had a condition which meant he could be misunderstood.

He failed to convince ERA member Antoinette Baker. Her determination revealed the extent of the allegations against Caldwell, but also criticisms of Oranga Tamariki management and the “mess” in handling a serious incident at the youth justice residence.

Facility manager Virginia Lavender told the ERA she began receiving complaints about Caldwell’s “poor conduct” soon after joining Te Puna Wai.

The most serious allegation, from February 2023, was that Caldwell let youths watch TikTok videos of females twerking, to which one young person began “openly” masturbating near a female staff member.

Caldwell admitted to showing the video, saying it was to distract the youths from an incident happening elsewhere in the residence. He and Gemmell described his actions as “unorthodox”, but said the intent was rooted in safety concerns.

He said he only did it once and did not think there was anything wrong with it.

Baker said meeting notes suggested the subsequent disciplinary action was focused on Caldwell verbally abusing a colleague for challenging this behaviour, rather than the seriousness of the incident itself.

Lavender told the ERA that at the time she believed the masturbation incident to be a one-off and did not think he had encouraged it, as several colleagues went on to claim.

The truth of the incident was lost through gossip, an investigation found. Colleagues began alleging Caldwell had challenged the youths to masturbate in order to win a chocolate fish, but all 23 employees interviewed said they only heard this second-hand.

A subsequent investigation, prompted by the Office of the Children’s Commissioner, which made an unannounced visit in June 2023, was limited by the facility erasing footage of the day in question.

Two managers had seen the footage and confirmed the content of the video the youths watched and that one youth masturbated near a female worker, however, they made no notes at the time and were only interviewed months later.

Baker later described these failings as “surprising”, and OT’s lack of communication about the footage, or lack of exploration of the seriousness of the matter, as a “mess”.

However, she found the organisation had been thorough and reasonably concluded serious misconduct and loss of trust in Caldwell as an employee.

The claims against Caldwell which were accepted by Baker included not following protocols, having a cell phone in the units and his use of sexist and sexualised comments in the workplace.

Colleagues said he would tell young people about how “I used to f… so many b…..s” and “smashed a b…. on the weekend”.

One colleague who laid a formal complaint claimed Caldwell, in response to a youth asking if he used protection during sex, said, “f… no, I raw dog that s… and leave those b…..s”.

Multiple colleagues said he called female colleagues “b…..s”. One complainant alleged Caldwell treated female staff differently by assigning them domestic chores, which youths picked up on by also becoming disrespectful to female staff.

Caldwell also reportedly told colleagues and youths he was “untouchable” because he had a family connection to someone in Oranga Tamariki management, the ERA decision said. He also claimed to have “dirt” on the organisation.

Caldwell denied, or could not recall, saying anything inappropriate that was not a joke. He said his “humour and banter” could be misunderstood.

He told the ERA his behaviour was in part the result of a condition which meant people misunderstood him. The condition was not diagnosed by a professional or backed by evidence.

He had also not been trained properly, he claimed, and had memory problems due to previous concussions. This too was not backed by medical evidence, Baker said.

The determination did not say when Caldwell was officially dismissed, but his claims were lodged with the ERA in October 2024.