Heke grabbed the boy, dug into his pocket to retrieve the car, then pushed him over, injuring his wrist. The boy’s older brother witnessed the toy car incident and yelled at Heke, who replied that he “didn’t even push him that hard”. She said Heke would hit his students on the head with the stick daily and “hit a lot of other people” without apparent reason. Another child described being hit on the head with a tokotoko, or stick, and a guitar. He said Heke would hit students when they were “being stupid and not listening”.

Source: New Zealand Herald March 05, 2026 04:33 UTC