Accused teacher says she sent explicit images to former student after 'very pushy and forceful' requests

CONTENT WARNING: This article refers to alleged child abuse.

A teacher accused of sending “nudes” to a boy after she met him at his school when he was 15 has denied there was any sexual or romantic contact between them.

The trainee teacher is in an ACT Supreme Court trial that started last week, in which she is accused of having a sexual and romantic relationship with the boy that began after the then-24-year-old met him at his school in late 2020 during a university placement.

She took the stand on Tuesday (24 September) and told jurors that various students had sent her friend requests through social media platforms, Instagram and Snapchat, after she left the school in late 2020.

While she did not accept any of these requests, she said she answered a call through Instagram, which was allegedly from the boy.

“I generally answer all phone calls,” she said when asked why she answered.

The two ultimately began to communicate regularly over social media, and she acknowledged she had transferred the boy money and driven him places.

While she said there was a “closeness about our friendship”, the woman denied there was any sexual or romantic contact.

During cross-examination by prosecutor Emilija Beljic, she was asked about alleged messages in which the two discussed Valentine’s Day.

The two allegedly talked about not spending it together, with Ms Beljic putting it to her that this was because they were in a romantic relationship, but she denied this.

“We were just joking around, which you can tell from the rest of the conversation,” she said.

The teacher said she had a “specific recollection” of the boy telling her he had repeated a year and that he was 16 at the time she began to send him explicit material.

She said the boy began to ask for the material from her, sending messages every few days saying things like, “Can you send a photo?” and “You need to send me a photo”.

While she initially refused, she eventually sent him a photo of her chest wearing what she called “a lower-cut top”.

“He was very persistent and very pushy and forceful in the way he asked,” she said.

During her cross-examination, she agreed to a suggestion by Ms Beljic that she could have refused.

The teacher said she believed the boy was 16 at the time and felt “awful, foolish” when she found his school ID in her car with his birthday on it, which proved he was 15.

She said she only sent more explicit photographs of herself to the boy after he turned 16, in addition to sending him the earlier photographs of her cleavage.

“[I sent them b]ecause I felt pressured to,” she said.

During the boy’s interview with police in 2022, he told them he didn’t have a class with the teacher, but he used to go into her classroom when she was at his school to say hello to her and would “pretty much flirt with her” in the schoolyard during recess and lunch.

When she left the school, he said he looked her up on Instagram and sent her a message, even though he thought she was in her mid-20s. They started talking and in 2021 were sending each other “love hearts” and “X’s”, he claimed.

He said he started asking her for “nudes” and claimed that when she sent them to him, she told him, “Don’t show anyone”.

“I was still 15 when I was getting videos and stuff,” he said.

The boy said he didn’t have sex with her, so a police officer asked why he told people that he had.

“Just to say that I’d done it with a teacher,” he said.

“Back then it was just a cool thing to say to your mates.”

The boy said he now realised, “It’s a bit weird that I was that young and she was old”.

During the boy’s testimony in court last week, Ms Beljic asked what happened when he told the teacher he was “a year older”.

“She would be like, ‘No, you’re not’. She would be like, ‘I don’t believe you’,” the boy said.

He agreed she sent him “nude videos”.

“She was sending stuff to me, and I wasn’t sending anything in return,” he said.

During cross-examination from the teacher’s barrister, Sam Pararajasingham, the boy admitted his memory was “not the greatest”, that the teacher was “friendly” with lots of students at his school, and that she never complimented him on his looks at the school.

He admitted he lied to his friends both about having sex with the teacher and that she sent him “nudes” in late 2020 in order to impress them and make his then-girlfriend, who he dated from mid-2020 to late 2021, jealous.

He also accepted he might have told the teacher, “Look, I’m 16”, around the time when they first started talking on Instagram.

The boy reportedly showed explicit photos or videos of her to his then-girlfriend, friend and brother.

When the teacher was arrested in 2022, the boy told his mother, “I can’t live without her”.

The teacher, who legally can’t be named, has pleaded not guilty to single counts of the persistent sexual abuse of a child and making pornographic material available to a young person, as well as two counts each of grooming and committing an act of indecency.

A charge of supplying cannabis to a young person was dropped in a directed acquittal on Tuesday.

The trial continues before Acting Justice John Burns.

If this story has raised any concerns for you, 1800RESPECT, the national 24-hour sexual assault, family and domestic violence counselling line, can be contacted on 1800 737 732. Help and support are also available through the Canberra Rape Crisis Centre on 02 6247 2525, the Domestic Violence Crisis Service ACT on 6280 0900, the Sexual Violence Legal Services on 6257 4377 and Lifeline on 13 11 14. In an emergency, call triple zero.