Former Child, Youth and Family youth worker Ralph Lindsay Brunie is in custody after a Christchurch District Court jury convicted him of having sex with a 15-year-old girl in the department's care and grooming her for sex.
He was convicted on all three charges after a four-day trial before Judge Michael Crosbie and a jury and will be sentenced next month, Christchurch's Court News website reported.
"This is a situation where you were entrusted with the care of a young person. You abused that trust. I don't see any basis on which bail should be granted pending sentence," said the judge.
Brunie will be sentenced on November 19.
A large number of people interested in the trial were in court for the verdicts at 5.25pm and Judge Crosbie warned them to exercise restraint as the verdicts were read.
The jury had been out since 10.25am when the judge completed his summing up.
Brunie had denied two charges of having sexual connection with a young person, and a charge of meeting her after grooming for sex.
Defence counsel Andrew McKenzie sought continued name suppression for Brunie until sentencing, but Judge Crosbie refused saying the interim suppression had only been granted until verdict.
People working in the department had been under a spotlight because Brunie's name had been suppressed but not his occupation. "The public is now entitled to know," he said.
The court had been told that Brunie exchanged sexually explicit texts with the girl after she was sent to a Child, Youth and Family facility where he worked.
Her file, available to staff, had said she was sent there because she had alcohol and drug issues and had been forming inappropriate relationships with older men.
The girl, now aged 17, gave evidence of giving Brunie oral sex at the home, and later meeting him in Auckland after she had been transferred to a home there. She left the home, met him in Manukau and the two had sexual intercourse on an area of grass.
The court was also told she had taken pictures of herself undressed, on Brunie's cellphone.
