A Melbourne teacher who said that she would risk going to jail in order to have a sexual relationship with one of her adolescent students will serve at least two years in prison.
In July 2021, the 25-year-old lady started courting the youngster at the south-east Melbourne school by claiming she wanted to be his buddy.
They started talking on Microsoft Teams, and the woman expressed her longing for the boy to be older or for herself to be younger, stating she couldn’t believe she was falling for a teenager.
That quickly developed into a face-to-face meeting, which the teacher attended after picking up the youngster early in the morning and taking him to a local football field.
She admitted to the youngster that even though she would face jail time if they were discovered, she was “ready to risk it” if the teen was.
On that day, and for the next four months, they had sex in the back of her car as well as at her home.
Also, the teacher sent the youngster hundreds of messages, the most of which contained graphic sexually explicit images and videos.
The boy had emailed her obscene images, which she had stored.
When the boy’s parents discovered some of the messages on his phone, police were made aware of the offense.
Australia is planning to implement a TikTok ban.
After being detained in November 2021, the teacher was freed on bail with the restriction that he not speak to the youngster.
She violated the terms of her bail and was placed under jail in February of last year.
In the Victorian County Court, the woman admitted guilt to charges of grooming, sexual intercourse of a minor, and possession of child abuse materials.
Because she betrayed the trust between a teacher and pupil, Judge Trevor Wraight, who handed down the woman’s sentence on Tuesday, characterized the offense as intrinsically serious.
The victim was a willing participant in the sexual conduct, according to the evidence, Judge Wraight stated in his remarks regarding the sentencing.
Although though the teacher has sincere regret for her acts, Judge Wraight claimed that she groomed the youngster for her own sexual needs.
He also acknowledged that because she was young and had never committed a crime before, her chances of rehabilitation were excellent.
Judge Wraight said that she had experienced abuse from other partners, including in the union that preceded the offense, and so she erroneously turned to her pupil for solace.
However, the judge rejected the argument that the woman’s sadness affected her judgment, noting that there was evidence of preparation and that she admitted to the victim that she knew her actions were wrong.
Despite serving 401 days of her three years and nine months in prison, the lady will be eligible for release in little under a year.
She will have a permanent record as a sexual offender.
