By Cam Lucadou-Wells
A teacher in the South East has been jailed for grooming and having sex with her student.
The 25-year-old pleaded guilty at the Victorian County Court to the offences with a child under 16 as well as possessing child sexual abuse material of herself and the boy.
In sentencing on 21 March, Judge Trevor Wraight said she had been “motivated by sexual desire knowing you were breaching your position of trust and influence as a teacher”.
In 2021, the teacher told him she wished he was older, and that she wanted to be friends with him outside of school.
Later on Microsoft Teams, she told him she couldn’t believe she was “catching feelings” for him and gave him her phone number.
They first had sex in the back of her car at a football ground at 5.30am.
Beforehand, she said if they got caught “I’m gonna go to jail, I’m gonna lose my job” but she was “willing to risk it”.
“Just be 100 per cent certain you want to do this.”
They had sex about 15 times in nearly five months.
The teacher also sent “thousands” of text messages to the boy, most were of a “grooming” nature with explicit images and videos of herself.
Videos of them having sex in her bedroom were later found on the boy’s phone.
Their relationship continued until his parents discovered the teacher’s messages on his phone.
The teacher admitted the offending to them, saying she was in love with the boy. The parents reported the matter to police.
While on bail, she was caught contacting the victim several times despite an intervention order. Her bail was revoked in February 2022.
Although the boy willingly took part, his consent didn’t make the acts any less serious, Judge Wraight noted.
In victim impact statements, his parents said there was a “devastating” impact on them and their son.
His introduction to the “adult world of relationships” and the criminal justice system had robbed him of his “normal teenage years”, they stated.
A psychologist found that the majorly depressed accused had previously suffered abusive, controlling partners.
She “sought comfort” from the victim to “curb her loneliness without the risk of control and abuse from her previous relationships”, the psychologist reported.
In what was her first teaching position, the teacher reportedly struggled to connect with colleagues and identified more with students.
Her immaturity and “lack of clarity with interpersonal boundaries” led her to wrongly view the boy as an “equal”.
Judge Wraight noted the teacher’s “very strong” rehabilitative prospects, with a low risk of reoffending.
Her lack of criminal history, early guilty plea, genuine remorse, relative youth and developing insight were also taken into account.
“You accept that your career as a teacher is over.”
The teacher was jailed for up to three years and nine months. She is eligible for parole after serving two years.
The term includes 401 days in pre-sentence remand.
She must report as a registered sexual offender for life.
