An inquest investigating the death of a schoolgirl who took her own life has revealed that there were thousands of emails and texts exchanged between the 13-year-old and her 41-year-old teacher.
New Zealand teenager Reiha McLelland died in July 2014 and now her former teacher, Samuel Nicholas Back, now 42, has faced questioning about his relationship with the girl he once taught.
Mr Back, who worked at New Zealand’s Gisborne Intermediate where Reiha attended, said he initially bonded with the teen over poetry. As the pair’s outside school contact intensified he admitted it was a mistake not to tell the school about it, reports the New Zealand Herald.
Among the messages between the pair was talk of song lyrics, details of meet ups and Mr Back reportedly telling Rhea the pair would “travel the world together”.
Questioned about allowing the teen to stay at his home, without knowledge of her parents Mr Back told the inquest that one night Reiha had unexpectedly come to the home he shared with his partner, Angie Mepham “seeking shelter”.
Mr Back said he believed she’d run away from home and after she refused to allowed her and his partner to call her parents the couple allowed her to sleep in their spare room.
In hindsight Mr Back told the inquest: “I really think that I should have called the principal right away.”
As the out of school contact went on the teen was told she could stay at Back and Mepham’s home whenever she liked – but Mr Back said that the sleepovers, of which there were allegedly five, made he and his partner “very uncomfortable”.
Despite any reservations he might have had or any concerns for the 13-year-old’s mental health, Back never told other teachers, authorities or the girl’s parents about the situation because he feared the troubled teen would run away.
According to the NZ Herald, Mr Back said at that point, their relationship was no longer standard student-teacher involvement.
“Reiha and I had much in common and many mutual interests,” Mr Back reportedly told the inquest. “I could also relate, on a certain level, to what she may be feeling due to being through similar situations.”
Asked by Reiha McLelland’s family’s lawyer, Moira Macnab if the schoolgirl had fallen in love with him Mr Back said he didn’t think so.
He said: “I’m very well aware of what a crush looks like. I can see it a mile away.”
And when asked about Reiha calling him “big boy” in her correspondence with him Mr Back said it was a name many students called him. When it was suggested that it was a lewd reference to a man’s penis Mr Back called the notion “disgusting”.
Back said: “I don’t think about it the way that you do.”
Back said his only intention was to support Reiha and while he once wrote “Miss you” to her in a text on New Year’s Day, the teacher said he wanted to just let the troubled teen know he was thinking of her.
The school girl took her life just days after the Gisborne Intermediate informed Mr Back authorities would be told after the school had looked into his contact with Reiha.
The girl’s family have blamed Back and Mepham for what they thought was inappropriate involvement with Reiha before she died in August 2014.
On Tuesday the late-teen’s mum, Hinemoa McLelland told the coroner’s court that her daughter worried Mr Back would lose his job if the relationship was exposed.
The NZ Herald reports Ms McLelland recalled Reiha saying Mr Back told her he could lose his job if anyone found out about the contact they had: “Reiha told me ‘Mum, that must show how much he loves me if he’s willing to lose his job for me’.”
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