'I hope that didn't freak you out': Perth teacher who groomed female students likely to be jailed
A young woman says she did not understand the magnitude of her experience at the hands of a former high school teacher, as details of the sexual grooming of three female students were revealed in a Perth court.
The teacher, whose identity cannot be revealed to protect her victims, appeared in the Perth District Court on Friday to face 44 separate child sex offence charges relating to her time at a southern suburbs high school.
Judge Ronald Birmingham QC presided over the sentencing, but was not able to sentence the woman for another week due to the late submission of documents by the prosecution.
However, Judge Birmingham said he would most likely impose a term of immediate imprisonment.
The court heard the teacher was between 25 and 26 years old when she worked at the school between 2015 and 2017, and she struck up a relationship with three students over that period.
One of the students was a 13-year-old girl who began confiding in the teacher over difficulties at home, and they began a friendship in 2015.
The court heard the relationship became increasingly concerning as the teacher bought the young girl gifts including an arrowhead necklace, stress balls and a pet cat, and started messaging her outside of class.
Her attempts to get close to the girl escalated when the then 13-year-old stayed back to help clean up after class and the woman pinned the student against a door of the classroom and kissed her.
According to state prosecutor Jehna Winters, the woman then sent her student a Facebook message saying: “I hope that didn’t freak you out.”
The woman continued to seek out the child, even inviting her and a friend over to her home and inviting them to drink alcohol with her.
Ms Winters said the woman was aware of the illegal nature of the relationship, because she began picking the then 14-year-old up around the corner from her house.
The court heard the teacher told the young girl “I f---king well love you” and had tried to take her to to see age-restricted movie Bad Grandpa, but the pair were refused entry because the student looked so young and ended up going to a different cinema.
The student began lying to her mother about where she was going, but her mother said she became suspicious when she saw messages from the teacher on her daughter's iPad and phone.
“She wasn’t sure if it was an infatuation by her daughter or something more serious,” Ms Winters said.
On one occasion the young girl told her mother she was going to a friend’s house and asked to be dropped off at a park but instead went to the teacher’s house.
Suspicious, her mother followed her and messaged her daughter repeatedly and eventually picked her up from the same park.
Ms Winters said at this point the mother believed something was happening between the pair and went to the school with her concerns in March 2016.
The court heard that in a meeting with the principal, the teacher lied about the nature of the pair's relationship and said the teenager was “troubled” and made up allegations about her.
After the meeting, the teacher threatened the young girl, saying she would kill herself if the girl told the truth, prompting the 14-year-old to cover up for her.
The court also heard the teacher had targeted a 17-year-old student in a similar way after her relationship with the 14-year-old, and after the meeting with the principal in 2017.
I don't hate her, which is really strange. I actually don't want her to go to prison.
Anonymous
Although the girl was not a student of the teacher, she regularly sat in on classes and they eventually struck up a friendship.
According to Ms Winters, after messaging for some time the teacher invited the girl to her house where they watched Netflix and smoked cannabis, and the pair had sex.
Following the encounter, the teacher sent the girl a text message saying she “felt used”, but they continued their relationship for some time until the girl left school.
The court heard the teacher was often the one to initiate her relationships and often undressed herself or directed the girls what to do.
The teacher was eventually arrested in 2018 and allegations from a previous student from mid-2016 and mid-2017 were also investigated but did not form part of the indictment.
Defence lawyer Curt Hofmann said it was important to emphasise there was no "element of duress" in any of the offending and therefore no implied lack of consent.
But Judge Birmingham said under WA law it was not possible for a 14-year-old to consent.
Speaking outside of court, one of the young girls said she did not consider herself a victim and did not “hate” the teacher.
“When it happened it didn't seem as much of a big deal, but when it was brought up again it affected me quite a bit, in a sense where I didn't realise how big of a deal and how bad it actually was,” she said.
"It's played a big part on my mental health. It's caused massive anxiety and affected certain relationships in my life.
"I don't hate her, which is really strange. I actually don't want her to go to prison. It hurts me to know that she's actually going away. It hurts me – I don't want her to go for some reason.
"She's not actually a bad person, as people think she is. A lot of people do bad things but they're not bad people.
"She made a lot of mistakes in her life. To everyone else, she – I guess – groomed me and the others.
"It just so happened she was a teacher."
Now 19 years old, the girl said she aimed to go to university and work with young people and mental health.
The teacher has been remanded in custody until August 2.