Rototuna teacher censured over rape remarks resigns

Wednesday, 24 June 2026

Shannan McPeak was censured by the Teachers Disciplinary Tribunal after telling a student ‘you only scream like that when you’re being raped’.

A Hamilton teacher censured for telling a student “you only scream like that when you’re being raped” has resigned from Rototuna Junior High School.

Shannan McPeak’s resignation was confirmed by Rototuna principal Mel Moore.

“Mr McPeak has decided to resign from his position at Rototuna Junior High School for personal reasons,” she told the Waikato Times.

“The school acknowledges the contributions made by Mr McPeak during his time at the school and wishes him well for the future.”

The development comes as further allegations of inappropriate behaviour involving girls from a trip during his time as a teacher at another Hamilton school years earlier emerged.

The New Zealand Teachers Disciplinary Tribunal had censured Shannan McPeak for serious misconduct following a 2022 incident at Rototuna Junior High School and a second inappropriate interaction with students.

The Rototuna High School Board said they had not been made aware of any complaints laid against the teacher, but subsequently had ‘concerns’ brought to their attention.

However, coverage of those incidents prompted contact from parents unhappy with how Fairfield Intermediate dealt with their complaints about alleged inappropriate behaviour by McPeak on a 2017 school trip to China.

In the July 2025 decision involving Rototuna, made public in April, the tribunal found his comments were 'highly inappropriate and sexualised' and had a negative impact on the well-being of the children involved.

The first incident happened on March 4, 2022, at Rototuna Junior High School during a product design workshop, the decision said.

A student, identified as Student A, screamed after being startled by another student while using a hammer. McPeak reprimanded her and, when she tried to explain, told her: 'You only scream like that when you are getting raped.'

The tribunal heard the comment caused Student A to cry and want to leave the room. As of October 2023, she continued to avoid classes when she knew McPeak would be present.

In a separate incident on June 8, 2022, McPeak observed a student jokingly hit another student on the bottom. He told the pair: 'I wish I could do that, but I'm not allowed.' The student who was hit found the comment 'creepy.'

Following that story The Waikato Times was contacted by a former student who said she read about McPeak’s censure and it “instantly made my gut drop”.

The former student said it took her back to a 2017 Fairfield Intermediate School trip to China, accompanied by McPeak, where she claimed “so many things happened”.

The Waikato Times spoke to a number of people familiar with that trip who corroborated her claims.

“He would force girls to leave their (hotel room) doors open, even when they have a shower,” she alleged. This was for security reasons but family with experience of overseas school travel objected to the protocol.

“He touched a student’s bottom, he said something was falling out of her pocket.”

She claimed McPeak also left some pupils uncomfortable after asking them to watch a film with him, and “bounced” on one pupil “described as humping by one student”.

“This did traumatise me,” she said.

The Waikato Times has attempted to contact McPeak regarding the allegations but emails and phonecalls have gone unanswered and no-one came to the door when a reporter visited his home seeking comment.

Fairfield Intermediate told the Waikato Times a complaint was laid against Shannan McPeak, and it was ‘dealt with’ by the former principal.

The alleged 2017 incidents prompted a complaint from the student’s grandfather to the then Fairfield Intermediate Board of Trustees.

The student supplied correspondence detailing the “less than desirable behaviours” that occurred on the trip.

The letter mentions claims of threats to kick students’ bottoms, a pupil having her bottom “patted” and slapping a pupil’s legs.

“Whatever you may think about the severity of, or context in which, these things happened the school ought to take matters like these - accusations of inappropriate sexual behaviours from teachers to students - extremely seriously,” her grandfather wrote.

“It seems that both in regards to our voiced concerns while the girls were away and [his daughter’s] voiced concerns since she's been back the schools policy has remained consistent. Ignore, blame, deny and generally sweep under the rug.”

The Waikato Times has also seen a letter from the pupil’s mother to Fairfield Intermediate, in which she said she was messaged by her daughter while on the trip “to say there had been some inappropriate behaviour from Mr McPeak.”

“When I asked what happened she told me about him touching a couple of the girls inappropriately. It sounded like it was meant playfully but still unnecessary and not appropriate… My daughter also said he jumped on her while she was on the bed in the hotel.”

She said her daughter told her she was anxious on the trip, and “finding it difficult to be around an adult she didn’t trust”.

She said she had spoken to the parent of another pupil on the trip, and that “their child had made similar comment” about McPeak’s behaviour.

In a statement, Fairfield Intermediate principal Angela Walters said the school was “aware that a complaint was laid”.

“It was dealt with at the time by the previous principal,” she said.

Mr McPeak resigned from the school in January 2020.

Rototuna High School Board, whose presiding member is named as Heemi McDonald on the school website, told the Waikato Times in a statement they were “not made aware of any concerns from Mr McPeak’s previous school”.

“As part of our teacher recruitment process, we ask previous employers whether they have any concerns about the candidate working with young people,” they said.

“No such matters were raised with us.”