The trial has begun for one of 12 men accused of historical sex crimes linked to Auckland's Dilworth School.
Warning: This story contains details of alleged sex crimes.
Leonard Cave is the first of the group to stand trial, as many of the other defendants pleaded guilty and several died before their trials could take place.
There's just one other trial scheduled for next year.
Cave, a former music teacher and choirmaster, is accused of committing sex crimes against five students at the boy's boarding school.
Dilworth is allegedly not where the behaviour stopped, however.
The now 75-year-old became a music teacher at Hamilton's St Paul's Collegiate, where he's accused of sexually violating one other student.
All in all, he faces 14 charges, among them, indecent assault and supply of drugs.
At the High Court in Auckland on Monday, Crown Prosecutor Jacob Barry said: "No doubt, in your own lives, you have at various points in time, had a person, or persons you look up to, trust, and rely on.
"When you’re growing up you trust these people implicitly, and this case is about a breach of that kind of trust.
"The trust of six young men across nearly four decades was broken by their seemingly affable music teacher, choirmaster and often times friend, Leonard Cave."
Barry said Cave's teaching roles "weren’t just a platform for him to enjoy professional success, they also paved the way for him to find his own forms of perverse pleasure".
The court heard that for four alleged victims, while their relationships with Cave began at school, their teacher's Waiheke bach was where their trust was breached.
"This bach would become a significant part of Mr Cave’s story and ultimately a significant part of this trial", Barry said.
"It became almost effortless for Mr Cave to coax young adolescent males away to his bach for the weekend."
The first of Cave's accusers gave evidence in Court on Monday.
The man, whose identity is suppressed, was a choirboy at Dilworth School in 1970-71 and was aged 14 or 15 years old at the time.
He told the court he was enrolled at Dilworth School in 1966 because his father had died and his mother was an alcoholic.
He said he seldom spoke to Cave at school, who was a house tutor and would also play the organ for the choir.
Then, one day after practice when was alone in the school chapel, the defendant appeared and pushed him up against a wall.
He alleged that Cave grabbed his crotch before placing the boy's hand on his own crotch.
"I believe I told him to f*** off and that I was going to tell the headmaster", he recalled.
The court heard he did indeed tell the principal at the time, Peter Parr, but to no avail.
Barry said this "set the stage for things to come".
"Nothing seemed to come of this complaint... it doesn’t appear the authorities were alerted."
It was only after media coverage of the police investigation into historical offending at Dilworth that the complainant came forward.
Defence lawyer Warren Pyke asked the man: "Is it possible your recollection is flawed and didn't involve Mr Cave at all?"
"No", the complainant answered.
"It might not have happened?" Pyke asked.
"Yes it did," the man said.
Pyke reminded the jury that what they heard from the Crown was one-sided.
“There is another side of the story,” Pyke said.
He said Cave denies any sexual interest in any of the complainants.
The trial, before Justice Mary Peters and a jury, is set to last two weeks.
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