Kelston Boys’ High School has not responded to numerous requests for comment about allegations raised during the Herald’s investigation.Sakey, who is also a part-time author of adolescent fiction, is now in prison awaiting sentencing after being found guilty last month of sexually abusing two teenage boys in the 1990s. During the trial, Sakey accepted he was attracted to children, had undertaken shirtless photo shoots with one of the victims and slept in a bed with both boys, but denied sexually abusing them.A man, Luke*, who attended the high school in the 1980s also alleges he was groomed by the now-retired teacher, the Herald can reveal. He blames historical senior leaders for allowing Kelston to become Sakey’s “hunting ground”. Photographs of sex offender Murray Sakey in his younger years.Luke was not involved in the 2026 court case but spoke to the Herald at the conclusion of the trial.A 2024 Herald story on Sakey’s earlier convictions for possessing child exploitation material prompted the two sexual abuse victims involved in the trial to come forward.Sakey had claimed he downloaded the disturbing content as inspiration for his writing. His novels range from fantasy to mystery. One, titled Prague: An Unforgettable Story of Betrayal and Redemption, features an 11-year-old boy caught up in “a major child prostitution operation across Europe”.Antony Folwell, the first victim to testify against Sakey last month, has lifted his name suppression to speak about the abuse he endured and how he feels the school failed him.Antony Folwell has lifted his name suppression to share his story. Photo / Annaleise ShortlandThe other victim involved in the case said in open court he’d told one former principal that Sakey was a sex abuser.He claimed the principal replied that “[Sakey] would never do anything like that”. Asked to respond to the allegations, the former principal declined to comment.One former Kelson Boys’ High teacher told the Herald she made complaints about Sakey to multiple senior leaders in the early 2000s. Another former teacher said he complained to the then principal about photos of young boys he found in Sakey’s classroom in the 2010s. He also took his concerns to police. The Ministry of Education has searched its school records and said it could not identify any information relating to complaints about Sakey. “We’re unable to confirm whether any concerns or complaints may have been raised with the ministry at the time.”Sakey was approached for comment through his lawyer. ‘The father figure I never had’Luke said Sakey’s intense interest in him as a child was an open secret at the school.“It obviously crossed the line very, very early on, but I was so young that I didn’t understand it.“It made me feel special that he wanted me to sleep in his bed. I didn’t think it was anything unusual, I thought we were best friends.”Luke grew up largely without a father, moving to New Zealand with his mother and sisters as a young boy.“We had no money and we didn’t go anywhere, we didn’t go on trips, we didn’t have any family at all in New Zealand, so we were very, very isolated.” Sakey made an intense impression when he entered their lives.“This was a man in a position of power, who was well dressed, well groomed, well spoken, and obviously intelligent, and he took a very strong immediate interest in me, and it was incredibly flattering and powerful.”Murray Sakey was found guilty in the Auckland District Court in September 2026 of child sex abuse.Sakey, Luke said, was interested in every part of him. This included constantly photographing him and cutting Luke’s hair in the same style as Sakey’s.“Murray quickly positioned himself as the father figure that I never had.”Luke said he began staying at Sakey’s home more than his own and was “very happy” for the first few years.Sakey took him to hot pools and table tennis, places Luke’s mother couldn’t afford.Luke felt he had become part of Sakey’s family. “It was a nicer house; he had a better TV, he had a table tennis table, he had family coming around. “There was always something going on, and I had nothing going on.”But things allegedly happened in that house that made Luke uncomfortable. Murray Sakey decades ago.“He used to get closer to me in bed and then he used to put his hand up high up on my thigh, just short of getting into trouble. I didn’t feel comfortable with that, and he used to say, ‘Oh, it’s nothing, it’s just what me and my wife used to do’,” Luke claimed.Eventually, Luke said he refused to sleep in bed with Sakey.“He accepted that, albeit reluctantly.”Instead, Luke claims Sakey would “sneak into my room and watch me quietly when he thought I was sleeping, and even take photos of me”.Luke felt that Sakey took care not to “overstep the line” and would allegedly refer to him and other boys as “jailbait”.“It wasn’t a victimless crime. He won my trust by grooming me, and once I was part of his life, it became very difficult to leave.” ‘Groomed by one of my teachers’Luke said word got around Kelston in his later years at the school that he had moved in with Sakey. He would arrive at school with the former teacher and leave with Sakey frequently.“Nobody ever questioned this or asked me what was going on, and whether I was okay. It’s like they didn’t feel it was any of their business.“I realise this was a long time ago and things were different then. But it doesn’t change the fact that I was a vulnerable kid who was groomed by one of their teachers under their noses and nobody made even the slightest effort to understand what was going on.”As Luke grew older, he started to question the relationship and began spending less time at Sakey’s home.Soon after he turned 16, Luke said he found Sakey’s diary lying around the house, which he now believes was deliberate.“He had written about what he’d like to do with me if I was willing.“I remember he used the words ‘mutual action’ in the diary. When I realised what it meant, I had a visceral reaction and got out of there quickly. I then cut him off completely and didn’t return his calls.” About a week or so later, Luke said Sakey came to his mother’s house crying and asking to see him.“Afterwards, she seemed shocked and confused. She said it was like he had broken up with a girlfriend.”Kelston Boys’ High School. Photo / Google Street ViewLuke believes his mum had finally figured it out, but said she never asked him questions about what happened and he didn’t want to discuss it.Luke said he “avoided [Sakey] like the plague” after the diary incident and was traumatised.By cutting off Sakey, Luke said he was back where he started – without a larger family support network. “The betrayal made me feel even more worthless than I did before. I felt stupid and manipulated, and empty. It destroyed my faith and trust in human beings.”In the months and years that followed, Luke said his life spiralled out of control. He stopped going to school, began committing small crimes and tried to end his life.“I just wanted to get caught because I was having a crisis.”He eventually returned to school, then university and became successful in his field. Luke said he did not want revenge and believed Sakey was now a “broken old man”.“I don’t have any great need to see him suffer, and I feel for his family, who are good people and must be going through a tough time right now. However, I believe Murray still sees himself as the victim in all of this and [believes he] hasn’t done anything wrong.”Luke did not participate in Sakey’s trial but wanted Kelston Boys’ High to know it had failed him and those who followed.“For years, Murray’s interest in young boys had been an open secret at the school. The teachers all knew, in large part because Murray made no effort to hide it. I was like a trophy and he was proud of me. “Schools have a duty of care over vulnerable children. If Kelston and its leaders aren’t forced to acknowledge and look squarely at what happened and their role in enabling it, difficult though it may be, they will never learn.” ‘Everybody knew’Patricia Visger’s first job out of teaching school was at Kelston Boys’ in 2000. Visger, then in her mid-40s and a mother of four, immediately realised something was off about Sakey.“I was taking [the class] down to the gym, and a couple of boys go, ‘Oh no, we’re going to Murray’s [to change]’, and I said, ‘What are you talking about’? And they said, ‘Oh, we change in the music room for gym’. And I thought that’s weird.”When she approached Sakey about the claims, she said he told her his “music boys” always got dressed in his classroom. Visger alleges she raised the situation with a school leader.She said some students also said they didn’t want to attend music class, telling her it was “weird” and “it creeps me out”.She later visited the music classroom and was shocked at what she saw. The walls were lined nearly to the ceiling with images of boys, mostly shirtless, she said.“I’m talking about 14-year-olds, 13-year-olds. There were a couple that were maybe a little older, more like 15, 16, but they were all kind of posed.”Murray Sakey being sentenced in the Waitākere District Court in 2024 for possessing child exploitation material. Photo / Katie HarrisVisger confronted Sakey about the photos the next day.“I said, ‘Murray, I was relieving in your room and I noticed all of the pictures of the boys. They don’t really look like students or current students’. And he said, ‘Oh no, no, those aren’t students. Those are my pen pals’.“I said, ‘Murray, that’s pretty unusual for a high school teacher to have that as a decoration in the classroom. It’s nothing to do with music. And pen pals?’ He said, ‘Oh yeah, I have pen pals all around the world.’”Visger said she discussed her concerns with another teacher, who allegedly responded that they “all know about Murray” and “he’s only interested in white boys”. “That’s how common knowledge it was. “Everybody knew and everybody was creeped out. And you’re waiting for the leadership to do what they’re supposed to do.”‘Lives are destroyed’Visger said she spoke to Sakey several times about the photos and also complained to senior school leaders, but not the then-principal. “They refused to act. They did nothing. It just makes me so sad, and those kids, their lives are destroyed.”One senior leader allegedly told her the school was aware of the images but couldn’t act unless a student complained. She found the school’s position troubling. “They might be in big bodies but they’re children.”Visger wonders if leaders would have acted differently if it was a girls’ school. “The school was ludicrously focused on sport. They only really cared about sport and there was kind of an attitude of just letting everybody do their thing and leave them to it.”At Visger’s next school, James Cook High, she alleges she also spoke up about a fellow teacher. The man, Seelan Ramiah, was later promoted to assistant principal. Ramiah was jailed in 2024 for sexual conduct with a student.Both cases caused Visger to lose faith in school leaders’ ability to manage sensitive complaints. “People are not acting as the adults in the room. They’re supposed to be accountable. It’s so wrong.”‘He took me under his wing’Like Luke, Antony Folwell was also a small, light-haired child living with a single mother. It was through his growing love of music that he first met Sakey at Kelston Boys’. “You could go down to the music block, and if you were quick enough to grab an instrument at lunchtime or morning tea, then you could sit there and jam.”As time went on, Folwell and his friends began hanging out in Sakey’s office and having band practice at his home. “We thought it was okay and cool. But looking back now… I don’t think that’s appropriate for younger students to be hanging out in the teacher’s office every lunchtime and every morning tea.” Folwell said Sakey became like a father. “He took me under his wing.” Child abuse survivor Antony Folwell believes Kelston leaders should have done more to protect him and others. Photo / Annaleise ShortlandOn Friday nights, Sakey would take him and another student to table tennis games, and eventually Folwell began staying over in Sakey’s bed. He said Sakey’s interest in young boys was well known and children would joke about him being a paedophile who took kids into his van after school.“There were always things said at school, like, ‘There they go, Murray’s little bum boys’.” He believed school leaders would likely have been aware of Sakey’s fixation on young boys and him regularly taking them from school in his van.Initially, Folwell liked staying at Sakey’s home as he had bonded with Sakey’s relatives and could play music in his band room.However, the relationship was shattered when the teacher sexually abused him. “I woke up in the bed with him molesting me. I didn’t even realise at the time that even sleeping in the bed with [Sakey] was probably over the line. I don’t know whether that’s because I grew up without a father.” The betrayal hit Folwell hard. “There were so many thoughts. It wasn’t just the [breach of] trust.“He did specific things to try and keep me quiet.”Folwell didn’t report the abuse then because of shame, the impact it would have on Sakey’s immediate family, and his fear of losing the close ties he had built with them.“I didn’t want to lose those connections.”After the sexual abuse, Folwell said he pulled back from spending time with Sakey, who took it badly.On one occasion, they were driving back from an outing when Sakey asked where he wanted to stay that night. “I said home. And I recall him being very upset about it and not understanding why I wouldn’t stay at his house anymore.”Folwell wonders if the strong relationships he still has with members of Sakey’s extended family would have been lost had he reported the abuse at the time. “I don’t know what life would have been like. It might have been better. It might not.“Nothing may have ever happened and he still may be free.”It was only after reading the 2024 Herald story on Sakey’s child exploitation material convictions that Folwell found the courage to speak up. But it was still a “knife-edge” decision.Then, on Wednesday, September 9, Sakey was found guilty of seven charges, including two counts of indecency with a child that related to Folwell.He was acquitted of threatening to kill the other victim. Folwell still has complex feelings about Sakey being found guilty.“Making him pay for what he did is also making other people who were innocent pay as well.”But the abuse has left a lasting impact, one that Folwell isn’t sure he will ever fully grasp. He’s struggled with adult relationships and has not had a partner since he was a young man. “Whether that’s a trust issue with another person or not, I don’t know.” He wants other victims of sexual abuse to know they are not alone. “People don’t realise how much support they may have until they come forward.” ‘Predatory and inappropriate’One of Folwell’s childhood friends told the Herald Sakey’s behaviour towards boys that were “his type” – typically small and young with light hair – was predatory and inappropriate. “It was well‑known.”The man said he first saw how Sakey operated when he was 13 and had started puberty, so was not Sakey’s “type”. “He built an environment around himself that let him act without oversight, without scrutiny, and without any of the normal safeguards that should have protected us. What looked like enthusiasm for music was actually a system he controlled from top to bottom.”He said Sakey disciplined boys by making them bend over a desk and stand there for minutes on end. “He did this in the classroom and in his office. It wasn’t loud or aggressive, it was quiet, prolonged, and humiliating.”The friend said Sakey identified who was most susceptible and focused his attention on that boy. “Now that it’s been through court and he’s been convicted, the pattern is undeniable. The private home sessions, the lack of oversight, the selective grooming, the emotional manipulation, the unequal treatment, and the inappropriate disciplinary methods.”Looking back, it was impossible to ignore how many institutional safeguards failed at the same time.“What he did should not have been possible inside a functioning school system. The patterns the court recognised weren’t just about his behaviour – they were about the absence of any structure that could have stopped him.”‘He ran things how he saw fit’Another teacher who was relatively new at Kelston in the 2010s said staff described Sakey as having a “fiefdom”, his own personal kingdom at the school.“He was kind of left to his own devices, and ran things how he saw fit and had very little oversight.”He recalled Sakey having a “significant” display of pre-teen blond footballers in the music room.“That in itself was a bit weird. “Not in itself illegal or gross but just strange in that context.”After Sakey’s retirement in about 2015, the teacher said he found two dozen-odd photographs of blond boys in Sakey’s classroom storage. “A manila folder’s worth of stuff that pointed to someone with a real interest in adolescent boys, a non-educational interest.”The teacher said he took the folder of images to a senior leader. “I remember feeling a bit surprised that he didn’t take it a bit more seriously.”One of the books Murray Sakey wrote under a pseudonym. Photo / FileThe teacher then took information about Sakey to police.The former Kelston leader said he didn’t recall being shown any images but felt it was a “good thing” the information was passed to police. He added that Sakey retired at the start of his own leadership tenure at the school. “I do recall that the school assisted police with an inquiry concerning Mr Sakey.”He said his thoughts were with the young men who came forward about the abuse they suffered. “What they experienced was abhorrent, and they have shown real courage in speaking out.”Sakey ‘always had a boy’Another school friend of Folwell’s, Dave Williams, said Sakey’s interest in small blond boys was well-known at Kelston. Williams said his brothers warned him about Sakey before he started at the school. He believed teachers must have known about Sakey’s unusual interest in boys. “He always had a boy.”Williams was appalled the school did not ask questions about the amount of time Sakey was spending with Folwell. “I don’t recall other kids getting into cars with teachers every day.”He believed school leaders at the time had their heads in the sand about Sakey’s behaviour. “He’s the ultimate groomer.”*Name changed to protect identitySign up to The Daily H, a free newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
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