Loosing a few minor battles like this won’t discourage the anti-male brigade – prospective male teachers will get the message in any case.

NZ Herald: Primary school teacher accused of rape wins $30,000

Police investigating a rape claim against a primary school teacher were “haphazard”, failed to take obvious lines of inquiry, made a premature arrest and were negligent, a judge has ruled.

The teacher, who has permanent name suppression, was charged with raping a 7-year-old when she was in his class in 1996. The name of the school is also suppressed.

He faced two charges of sexual violation by rape, one of indecent assault and two of assault when he appeared in Wellington District Court in June.

But in a rare move, Judge Bruce Davidson told the jury he was withdrawing the case because of the implausibility of the complaint.

And yesterday he awarded the teacher $30,000 costs.