Ex-trainee teacher Petra Shasha spared jail when sentenced for sexual 'relationship' with 15-year-old boy

CONTENT WARNING: This article refers to child abuse.

A female trainee teacher who had a sexual ‘relationship’ with a 15-year-old boy cried when she heard she wouldn’t have to spend any time behind bars.

Petra Shasha honestly thought her victim was 16 at the time and that her actions were legal, but she didn’t make reasonable efforts to confirm his age, Acting Justice John Burns said when handing her a community-based sentence on Friday (14 March).

The ACT Supreme Court heard she began working as a short-term prac teacher at the boy’s school, St Edmund’s College in Canberra, as part of her university studies in late 2020 when she was 24.

Acting Justice Burns said she didn’t teach the boy at the college, but came to know him during lunchtimes when he tried to “flirt” with her.

The judge said his fact-finding in the case was complicated, partly as the boy began lying to others about having a sexual relationship with Shasha when she was at the college, which was before her actual offences began.

While nothing inappropriate occurred in 2020, the pair began speaking over social media after a chance meeting at a sporting event in February 2021.

The following month, the boy asked for her help on a school assignment and told her he was 16, even though he was still 15.

Shasha began giving him lifts in her car when he asked for them and also started sending him small amounts of money.

She frequently sent him nude or sexualised photos, but Acting Justice Burns said she had been responding to the boy’s requests for the images.

They also went into a store’s change room when she was only in her underwear, but the judge said there was no evidence she made sexual demands of him and there was no criminal physical contact between them.

Acting Justice Burns said the boy lied about being 16 to encourage Shasha to keep talking to him and was assertive and persistent in requesting nude photos and lifts.

The judge said Shasha had “an honest belief” that the boy was 16 based on his assertions, but her basis for forming this belief was “inadequate”, and it was up to her to find out his age.

He also noted that once the truth of their ‘relationship’ became known, the boy displayed strong feelings of guilt about the impact it would have on Shasha.

“To put it simply, he blamed himself,” he said.

The acting justice said Shasha’s case fell well outside of the usual cases of child sexual offending, that there was little prospect of her reoffending in the future and her prospects of rehabilitation were good.

It was highly unlikely she would work as a teacher again, he said, while he also noted she had been subjected to vilification after the media reported her name.

Shasha, now aged 29, was convicted, sentenced to a one-year and 11-month intensive corrections order, which is a type of community-based sentence, and was fined $1000.

After her sentence was handed down, she was seen crying and walking towards her former solicitor, Rachel Fisher, with her arms outstretched for a hug.

She also mouthed, “thank you”, to solicitor Michael Kukulies-Smith of Kamy Saeedi Law.

At the end of her trial in 2024, Shasha was found guilty of four charges.

These were the persistent sexual abuse of a child, grooming, committing an act of indecency and supplying pornographic material to a young person.

She was acquitted of several other charges.

Suppression orders preventing the publication of her identity, as well as the name of St Edmund’s College, were lifted after she was found guilty.

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 02 6280 0900, the Sexual Violence Legal Services on 6257 4377 and Lifeline on 13 11 14. In an emergency, call Triple Zero.