Eight South Australian teachers who had shocking secrets exposed in court
From grooming students to being caught with vile child abuse material, these South Australian teachers harboured heinous secrets and found themselves in court.
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Teachers are extremely valuable assets to our community, however there are some who have abused the trust placed in them and behind closed doors had a heinous secret.
Here are eight South Australian teachers who have faced court in the last year.
Nathan Fenwick
A Whyalla teacher preyed on a teenage student by relentlessly messaging him and sending him “disgusting photos”, a court heard.
Nathan Andrew Fenwick, 27, used his position of trust to commit the ultimate act of betrayal on the young boy.
Three victim impact statements were read to the Adelaide District Court in March.
The victim’s father said Fenwick betrayed his son and damaged his family’s life in the “most despicable” way.
“You did this Nathan … like a thief in a night you preyed on (the victim) and took advantage of his naivety under the disguise of a friend and a teacher,” he said.
The father said he saw the messages and “disgusting photos” Fenwick sent to his son.
“I saw how you told (the victim) you loved him, I read how you encouraged him to leave the safety of his home and sneak away without telling anyone so that you could have your way with him,” he said.
The father said Fenwick “relentlessly and shamelessly” messaged his son.
“I saw how some days you sent over 30-40 messages – you stalked him, he could not escape you,” he said.
The court heard Fenwick would also meet with the victim in secret at school.
Fenwick pleaded guilty to communicating with the intention of making a child amenable.
He will next appear in court in May for sentencing submissions.
Renee Underwood
A Riverland teacher left her victim’s parents with “overwhelming guilt” for trusting her after she groomed their 14-year-old son for sex.
Renee Jade Underwood, 34, wept as she was jailed in the Adelaide District Court in October last year for exploiting her position of power to meet her own emotional needs.
The court heard Underwood, who was married, was teaching at a Riverland school when she met the 14-year-old student and told him on Snapchat she had developed feelings for him.
“You admitted to him that you were having sexual thoughts and that you wanted to engage in sexual activity with him,” Judge Schammer said.
The court heard Underwood explained the sexual acts she wanted to do with the student.
“You sent the complainant a photograph depicting your partially exposed breasts, you prompted him to send a revealing photograph of himself in exchange,” Judge Schammer said.
The court heard Underwood also drove the victim home from school, despite it being against school policy.
Judge Schammer sentenced Underwood to one year and six months in jail, with a non-parole period of eight months.
Christopher Stain
An inadequate sentence handed to a paedophile teacher who abused a 13-year-old student for more than a year shows a need for judges to be better educated about the long-term effects of abuse on child victims, South Australia’s top court ruled.
Christopher Wright Stain, 67, was initially sentenced to three years, 10 months and 25 days in prison with a non-parole period of 14 months for maintaining an unlawful sexual relationship with a child in the 1980s.
In July last year, the Court of Appeal unanimously agreed to increase Stain’s head sentence to six years and more than double his non-parole period to three and a half years.
Stain was working as a teacher at a regional school when he met the victim in the early 1980s, when she was only 12.
He started a Bible study group at his home on Friday nights and invited the victim.
Over more than a year, Stain groomed the victim and started a sexual relationship, which only ended when the girl wrote him a letter begging him to leave her alone.
Stain will be eligible for parole in late 2024 when he will be 70.
Timothy Sexton
Fallen arts identity and convicted paedophile Timothy Sexton is “an astounding narcissist”, a “weak human being” and “conceited, self-opinionated cruel-hearted” predator, a court heard.
Sexton groomed and sexually abused two teenage girls and manipulated them into believing they had seduced him.
His eventual victims met Sexton separately, in the 1980s, but through the same medium – his work as a singing teacher – and were immediately infatuated.
Tragically his little gifts, flirtatious comments, nickname for his penis and making each girl feel “adult” worked, leaving them vulnerable to repeated abuse.
Sexton is the State Opera’s former director – he stood down one month after charges were filed in 2017.
He pleaded not guilty to 17 sex offences arising from acts against three female students, across seven suburbs, over a four-year period.
Jurors rejected Sexton’s evidence and found him guilty, prompting him to file an appeal.
In July last year, the District Court jailed Sexton, 60, for a near-record 14 years.
John Rooney
A former teacher who had an alcohol addiction in his final years working is “deeply remorseful” for being caught with child exploitation material.
John Henry Martin Rooney, 65, avoided a jail term when he faced the Adelaide District Court in June last year after he contributed to a “serious social evil”.
The court heard police attended Rooney’s Fairview Park home and seized a computer and iPad on May 8, 2020.
“On both of those devices were 37 images and four videos of children under the age of 14 years,” Judge Adam Kimber said during sentencing.
Fourteen images and two videos of children aged between 14-17 years were also found.
“They included females in swimsuits and non-age appropriate underwear and girls posed in a sexually proactive manner,” Judge Kimber said.
“Police also found evidence you had visited websites likely to contain images of child exploitation material.”
Rooney, of Elizabeth Grove, had previously pleaded guilty to possessing child exploitation material.
“You had a long career as a teacher, you’ve also made a positive contribution to your community – you have served as a volunteer within a sporting club for many years,” Judge Kimber said.
Judge Kimber sentenced Rooney to nine-months jail.
The sentence was suspended on a two-year good behaviour bond for $1000.
Howard Codell
A former teacher caught with hundreds of child exploitation files was dobbed in by a friend after he found the images hidden around a rural property.
Howard Frank Codell, 72, avoided jail in the Adelaide District Court in November last year after his collection of child abuse material was discovered in a bizarre hiding spot.
The court heard Codell was hospitalised and asked his friend to keep an eye on his Wilmington home and to feed the animals on March 13 2019.
The friend found a shopping bag in the feed bin.
“When he finished feeding the animals he looked inside the shopping bag and found pornographic images,” Judge Liesl Kudelka said during sentencing.
There were 873 images in the 14 bags, 502 of which were aggravated because the children depicted were under the age of 14.
Almost of all the images were in category one, which depicts children involving no sexual activity and category six, which is anime, cartoons or drawings depicting children engaged in sexual poses or activity.
Codell, of Wilmington, had previously pleaded guilty to two counts of possessing child exploitation material.
The court heard Codell who had worked full-time as a teacher and special education teacher until the age of 57 was a father-of-two and showing early stages of possible vascular dementia.
Judge Kudelka sentenced Codell to one year and ten months jail, with a non-parole period of 11 months.
Taking into account Codell’s mental illness, the sentence was suspended on a good behaviour bond for three years, with supervision for 18-months.
Giulio Pederiva
A man will be able to continue caring for disabled wife after he avoided jail for being caught with dozens of serious child exploitation videos.
Giulio Pederiva, 57, was sentenced in the Adelaide District Court in August last year after his “shocked curiosity” led to him committing abhorrent crimes.
Pederiva’s West Croydon house was searched on November 12, 2019.
Four images and 53 videos of child exploitation material were found, with 20 videos aggravated by the children depicted being under the age of 14 years old.
The court heard the majority of the videos were classified as category four, with the remaining classified as category three or five.
Category five on the Oliver scale – which forms the basis on which child exploitation images and videos are graded – is where a child is subjected to sadism, torture, bestiality or humiliation.
The court heard Pederiva had created an online profile where he engaged in role playing to feed his “deviant fantasies”.
Pederiva, of West Croydon, had previously pleaded guilty to possessing child exploitation material.
The court heard Pederiva had been employed as an Italian relief teacher since about 2012.
Judge Schammer sentenced Pederiva to two years jail, with a non-parole period of 14 months.
The sentence was suspended on a three year good behaviour bond for $500, with supervision.
Dylan McCrossin
Allowing a teacher who downloaded vile child abuse material to serve his sentence sleeping on his mother’s floor undermines neither proper punishment nor the public’s confidence in justice, a judge says.
In June last year, the District Court ordered Dylan McCrossin serve his minimum nine-month term on home detention at his mother’s residence.
Judge Ian Press said the material McCrossin downloaded included images and videos of the worst legal category, involving acts of sadism against children under the age of 14.
McCrossin, 39, pleaded guilty to both aggravated and basic counts of possessing child exploitation material.
His arrest prompted the Department of Education to notify parents at seven schools where he had performed relief duties.
Judge Press ordered McCrossin serve a term of 15 months and 19 days.
He imposed a nine-month non-parole period, all of which was to be served under home detention conditions.
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