A former staff member at a Hutt Valley boys school described as a “wolf in sheep’s clothing” has been sentenced to home detention for historical sex offending against children. One of the victims told the Herald he hadn’t realised he had been groomed by Anthony Derek Francis until he unearthed an old, handwritten letter from the man decades later, which he realised was “predatory”. The man said the letter, which was signed off with a request to “please throw this away”, prompted him to go to police 25 years after the sexual abuse happened. Francis is the second staff member of Hutt International Boys School (HIBS) to be sentenced for sexual offending against children. Anthony Derek Francis, 78, has pleaded guilty to doing indecent acts with young boys. Photo / Melissa Nightingale Former teacher and cricket coach Kevin Fraser Keys was given home detention and ordered to pay $5000 emotional harm reparation in 2012 for two charges of indecent assault of a boy under 16. While Keys was still employed with the school when he was charged, Francis had long since retired from HIBS by the time he was charged. Now 78 and suffering from Parkinson’s disease, Francis appeared in the Wellington District Court today for sentencing on charges of doing indecent acts on boys aged over and under 12. According to the summary of facts, the victim was about 14 when he began attending HIBS, and Francis, described as a “general member of staff” was about 50. He befriending the victim and his parents, and “on the surface” appeared to be helping the victim settle into his new school. The victim was being bullied by other students at the time and was struggling to make friends. He would hang out with Francis at school, including during lunchtime, and Francis would give him lunch money in secret, and send him letters and birthday cards. Multiple times between 1998 and 1999, Francis touched and performed sex acts on the victim, once during a camping trip he took the boy on, and other times in a storage room at the school. Judge David Laurenson said the offending against the other victim happened when the child was 11 and had been attending a camp. Francis took the boy from the camp and had him stay at his home for a week. During that time he touched the boy multiple times, exposed himself, and masturbated beside the child at night. “I don’t want my kids growing up thinking they can’t get justice” One of the victims, who has permanent name suppression, said before he got married he sat down with his now-wife and laid his cards on the table, explaining about “what I did when I was a teenager”. “She stopped and looked at me and was like, ‘You were abused.’ I said ‘Sorry, let me explain, I don’t think you get it.’” It took the man decades to realise it was true, and reading old letters from Francis helped him fully comprehend what had been done to him. “I was cleaning out my childhood belongings at my parents’ place and came across this handwritten letter addressed to me,” he said. “When I read the letter, I guess I realised how predatory it was.” The letter included lines such as “[I] want to get to know you even better, also in every way” and “I hope you wouldn’t be afraid to say if I ever say or do anything you don’t like. I do like to have fun and I’m willing to do lots, so you must say so.” Another line read “I know that we will have many happy and fun times together and maybe even more if you’re willing, please say if you are not.” It was signed off “please let me know what you think and throw this away.” Anthony Derek Francis sexually abused students during his time on staff at Hutt International Boys School in the 90s. “I think being back at home with my wife and two young kids, realising in that moment what had actually happened 25 years earlier sent me into this kind of state of shock. At that point I went inside and said to [my wife] ‘I think we have to go down to the police station.’” He said finding the letters had “made me realise that th...