27 May 2021

Dilworth School historical assaults: Sex abuse accused identified

12:18 pm on 27 May 2021

A man charged with indecent assault on boys linked to Dilworth School can now be named, after he died before his trial.

Dilworth School.

Photo: RNZ / Dan Cook

Keith William Dixon faced three historical charges of indecent assault on a boy aged between 12 and 16, and one of inducing or permitting a boy under 12 to do an indecent assault.

He died on 14 May and name suppression has lapsed.

Dixon had also abused a nine-year-old boy in 1973 for which he was jailed 40 years later.

At that sentencing, Judge Eddie Paul said his offending was premeditated, for his own gratification, in front of other boys and went on for almost a year.

Dixon was one of nine men charged last year by police over fresh allegations of historical sexual offending against boys at Dilworth School, an Auckland boarding school for underprivileged children.

He denied these charges before his death.

Three of these men, including Dixon, have since died. One - Ian Robert Wilson - pleaded guilty and has been sentenced to jail, and five others will go to trial next year.

Get the RNZ app

for ad-free news and current affairs