A “well-liked” school teacher and film-maker who gave teen girls cannabis and assaulted one sought to avoid conviction after missing out on movie work.

Llanyon Joe “had to step away” from his work on award-winning 2023 Kiwi film Home Kills after being charged, the Rotorua District Court heard on Monday.

He was listed as an executive producer on the indie film’s IMBD but does not appear in the credits on the film’s website. His IMBD page also says he worked on television series such as Slime Cup, Crash the Bash and Underbelly: Land of the Long Green Cloud.

The 48-year-old man appeared in court for sentencing before Judge Anna Skellern after admitting three charges – supplying cannabis to a girl aged under 16, supplying cannabis to a girl aged under 18 and assaulting a female.

The cannabis charges carry a maximum prison sentence of eight years.

Some details of the case cannot be reported to protect the identities of the teenage girls, who have statutory suppression.

Joe was sentenced to five months' community detention, nine months' supervision and 60 hours' community work.

He resigned from his teaching position as a result of the charges.

What Joe did

Judge Skellern outlined the facts, saying Joe supplied cannabis to a girl aged under 18 over more than two years. He also supplied cannabis to a girl aged under 16 for about a year. He assaulted one of the girls.

Judge Skellern said Joe taught film classes at a school.

More than once Joe drove the under-18 girl with others in a car out of town and gave them cannabis to smoke in his vehicle.

He let the girl take cannabis on another occasion after she helped him bag it into 1g bags worth $20 each.

Another time he gave the two girls a bag of cannabis to smoke, and the younger one was unsure and felt pressured, Judge Skellern said.

She was also concerned Joe had smoked cannabis with them and still drove them afterwards, Judge Skellern said.

Relating to the assault, Judge Skellern said both girls were with Joe when he lost his temper and pushed one to the ground. He got on top of her and held her down using two hands. She yelled at him to stop.

“He tried to apologise but she didn’t respond as she felt upset and betrayed. She suffered no physical injuries.”

Judge Skellern noted Joe told a pre-sentence report writer he held the girl down because she was kicking and slapping him.

‘Blameless life’

Through his lawyer, Annabel Cresswell, Joe unsuccessfully applied to have the charges discharged without conviction.

Cresswell told Judge Skellern Joe’s mental health, relationships and work had been impacted significantly.

She said he "had to step away from the film he was working on, Home Kills", and from accepting credit or attending any of the overseas functions, screenings and award ceremonies.

He had missed out on “big opportunities” being offered as a result of that film.

“There are talks with Warner Bros and Netflix in relationship to that film, which [Joe] now has to take a side seat in.”

She said Joe’s relationships with the students stemmed from his hopes for their futures.

“He was sincere about that and was sincere about the talents he believed these students had.”

She said he no longer smoked cannabis and was taking steps to address his offending. He had no previous convictions.

“He has lived a blameless life and has contributed to the community in many, many ways – teaching, film production and strong networks with family and friends … He was well-liked and respected in the community, or was until this happened.”

’Absorbed with guilt'

The mother of one of the girls read her and her daughter’s victim impact statements to Joe in the courtroom.

In the statement, the girl said Joe made her think she would be something in the film industry.

“Now I see how inappropriate it was.”

The mother said he had destroyed her daughter’s secondary school years.

“I feel absorbed with guilt and disgust that I trusted you.”

Judge Skellern said a pre-sentence report writer noted Joe had little understanding about his breach of trust as a teacher, someone involved in the film industry or as someone much older than his victims.

Joe told the report writer he didn’t believe he introduced the girl under 18 to drugs but he acknowledged he supplied both girls with cannabis.

“You thought you were one of them and you blurred the lines and you regret it to this day,” Judge Skellern said.

She gave a starting point of 20 months' imprisonment on the cannabis charges and added three months for the assault.

She gave discounts of 10% for having previous good character, 15% for rehabilitation efforts and 25% for early guilty pleas. That worked out to 11 and a half months' imprisonment.

She said it was “entirely appropriate” to convert the sentence to a community-based sentence, which meant the length of the sentence was halved.

The end sentence was five months’ community detention with an 8pm to 7am curfew, as well as nine months’ supervision and 60 hours’ community work.