A sexual abuse survivor has spoken out after ex-ACT Party president Timothy Jago was found guilty of historical indecent assault against him and another teenager at Auckland’s Muriwai Surf Life Saving Club.
In September, Paul Oliver spoke in an emotional interview with 1News, describing the impact of abuse that occurred in the 1990s when he was a teenage club member.
He sought permission from the court so he could be identified as one of the two victims.
1News asked him what he felt when a jury found Jago guilty.
“It was wonderful to have the truth recognised,” Oliver said after an anguished pause.
“To have some of the shame lifted. That I wasn’t the offender.
“The guilt was put to the person who offended against me.”
Our interview with Paul Oliver was punctuated with many long pauses, as he struggled to form his replies, clearly still recounting and grappling with his decades-old trauma.
“It’s been so isolating,” he said at one point.
“Very difficult to relate to others in the most basic of ways.”
1News spoke to Oliver and his wife Lauren last September, shortly after Jago was convicted and when his identity was still suppressed.
Jago sexually abused Oliver and another man on separate occasions in the 1990s, when they were teenagers and members of Auckland’s Muriwai Surf Life Saving Club.
The man was found guilty on all eight charges, which involved two victims, dating back to the 1990s. (Source: 1News)
The court heard Jago, then a senior Surf Life Saving member and frequent media spokesperson, had supplied the teenagers with alcohol.
Oliver said he had passed out and awoke to experience the offending.
“I froze,” he said. “In just sheer disbelief.”
How did he feel he was being treated?
“Like an object.”
Jago has since appealed against his conviction and a two-and-a-half-year jail sentence. He abandoned his legal battle to keep his name suppressed on Friday.
‘It compromised every element of my life’
Paul Oliver was adamant he wanted to speak out on camera.
“I had to do justice. To be able to be a face – to show the true depth of the offending and its consequences.”
For him, those consequences have run deep for three decades.
“It compromised every element of my life. My ability to have good healthy relationships. I’ve struggled with my self-confidence, my self-worth.
“It’s affected me being a father and being part of a community.”
His wife Lauren echoed that view.
“It’s sad for Paul because he’s such a caring, loving man and to see him so affected by this. Paul doesn’t have many true close friendships because of it. He just kind of blocks everyone out.”
Watching her husband’s struggle prompted her to take action.
“I have a really strong sense of justice so I’ve been pushing in somewhat the whole way.”
In late 2022, she approached the ACT Party.
“I sent a message to David Seymour and said that your party president was a sexual predator.”
She got a response from ACT which suggested she take legal advice.
Although a review conducted by a KC later found the party responded appropriately, Lauren Oliver was not satisfied.
“Paul and I decided in the end it was a criminal matter. He walked through the doors of the Waitākere Police Station and laid a complaint there.”
Two months later, Jago was arrested and resigned as ACT’s party president.
In a statement, the party said it put Lauren Oliver’s complaint to Timothy Jago, at the time, and he denied the allegation.
ACT said it commended the courage of those who came forward.
Surf Life Saving New Zealand told 1News it was devastated to hear a former club member had been found guilty of sexual abuse, and that the behaviour was unacceptable.
The organisation pointed out it adopted a new policy in 2021 which saw it employ a National Child Protection Officer. Many clubs also appointed Child Protection Leads who have been trained to identify and address child welfare concerns.
‘Speaking the truth can help to heal’
1News spoke to Paul Oliver not long after the release of a report from the Royal Commission into Abuse in State Care.
“There are many people out there suffering. Many who are no longer with us as the suffering is too much. It’s incredibly painful to be part of that community.”
He said he could not have spoken out without help.
“My wife is showing me that speaking the truth can help to heal.”
And he had a message for any other victims of abuse.
“You don’t need to take this to your grave.
“You can speak your truth and you can heal – even a little bit.”
