Eight South Australian teachers who had shocking secrets exposed in court
From grooming children to a sophisticated drug enterprise, these South Australian teachers had their heinous crimes exposed in court.
Police & Courts
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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 two years.
Heidi Tomkins
A veteran educator who trafficked in almost $250,000 worth of drugs, including meth, was spared a jail cell because of her “remarkable story of rehabilitation and redemption”.
The District Court ordered Heidi Marie Tomkins serve her six-year sentence on home detention, saying leaving her “without hope” was not in the community’s best interests.
Judge Rauf Soulio said Tomkins had spent two decades selflessly teaching children with special needs and behavioural issues, and lived 40 years without committing a single crime.
Her “descent” into meth use and dealing, he said, arose from her acute self-consciousness, crippling lack of self-esteem and “pattern” of abusive relationships.
Tomkins, 42, of Mawson Lakes, pleaded guilty to having trafficked in MDMA – also known as ecstasy – and methylamphetamine in May and August 2020.
She was, at that time, working for the Department of Education and Child Development as a senior educator and behaviour support coach for almost 19 years.
In sentencing, Judge Soulio said Tomkins had worked extensively with primary school-aged students in Gawler and Port Pirie prior to her arrest, which resulted in her suspension.
Bevan Wilson
A former teacher and university lecturer preyed upon an inner suburban high school student for more than a year in the 1990s.
At the time, Bevan Charles Wilson was a teacher but did not teach the student he abused. He groomed the teen, letting them use his canteen card in exchange for completing tasks.
He also preyed on the student’s disadvantage and befriended the teen’s mother to gain further access to the student.
At trial, the court heard Wilson, also known as Bevin, had a “Bill Cosby” air to him – painting himself as a “number-one dad” figure around the school he taught.
The victim, who described Wilson as a “monster”, identified him by two distinct physical characteristics – a birthmark on his chest and his abnormally small penis.
Wilson was found guilty after a trial by judge alone of a charge of maintaining an unlawful sexual relationship with a child.
In sentencing, Judge Jane Schammer described Wilson’s offending as a gross breach of trust.
He went on to work as a uni lecturer and SANFL footy scout before his torrid acts were uncovered when the teen, now an adult, reported the abuse to police.
Judge Schammer jailed Wilson for 12 years but set a non-parole period of six years due to Wilson’s ailing health, including his advancing Parkinson’s disease.
Anthony Virgo
A predator teacher used three different schools as hunting grounds to groom young female students for his own sexual gratification within two years of starting in the role.
Former teacher Anthony Rex Virgo, who was aged between 23 and 25 at the time, acted “flirty and suggestive”, eventually convincing three female students between 1986 and 1988 to have a sexual relationship with him.
The three girls were aged between 15 and 16.
Judge Ian Press told the Adelaide District Court Virgo used three schools he taught at as a “selfish” avenue to fulfil his “own sexual gratification”.
At one point, Virgo introduced one of the girls to his friends as his “girlfriend”, but lied about her age, which was 15.
He was 25 and she was his third victim.
The young woman told the court she believed the relationship had ended as he had met another woman outside of the confines of school.
Virgo was quick to move on from his teen victim, ghosting her and leaving her in his wake.
He pleaded guilty to three counts of persistent sexual exploitation.
The court heard Virgo, after 1988, had gone on to be an exemplary teacher, eventually founding the science and space program at Hamilton High School where he worked for two decades.
Judge Press delivered Virgo a head sentence of 11 years and 10 months’ prison, with a non-parole period of seven years and two months.
Thomas Ackland
A former Yorke Peninsula teacher who sexually abused 14 students is a sinister, disingenuous hypocrite who needs to “stop pretending” he is not a deviant and “wake up to himself”, a judge said.
District Court Judge Paul Muscat condemned Thomas Robert Ackland, saying his supposed apology to his many victims was an “insincere insult” showing “an absence of true remorse”.
He said Ackland’s continued denials of his “patent” sexual interest in children made him an ongoing danger to the community, and deserving of a 14-year prison term.
Ackland, 31, pleaded guilty to 14 child sex abuse charges, including maintaining an unlawful sexual relationship with a child.
He groomed his victims via Snapchat under the guise of “bloke talk”, insisting their inappropriate and innuendo-laden conversations be kept secret.
Ackland’s victims labelled him “abhorrent”, “a monster” and “malicious”, while he apologised for any harm he “may have caused” them – while insisting he is not a pedophile.
In sentencing, Judge Muscat said Ackland had multiple opportunities to stop offending – including after being spoken to by police – but continued nonetheless.
He imposed a non-parole period of 11 years, two months and 12 days.
Clayton Page
A veteran primary school teacher solicited nude images from a 12-year-old girl, before having “sexually explicit conversations” and arranging to meet up with a “14-year-old” girl.
Disgraced primary school teacher Clayton Page, 57, pleaded guilty to two counts of communicating to make a child amenable to sexual activity and one count of possessing child exploitation material.
He was arrested by elite detectives from the Joint Anti-Child Exploitation Team in September last year after sending sexually explicit messages to who he thought was a 14-year-old girl.
That girl, however, turned out to be a covert police officer, and JACET detectives arrested Page after he had expressed interest in “meeting up”.
His children and former partner watched from the court gallery as Judge Nicolas Alexandrides recounted the disturbing messages the now deregistered teacher had sent to the undercover officer.
“You suggested that the correspondent wag school and meet you at the Royal Adelaide Show, and that you could pretend to be her father,” Judge Alexandrides said.
His messages to the covert officer also included asking if he could set “her” some “naughty homework,” and saying he could pretend to “be your uncle” if the pair met in person.
Following his arrest, police conducted a search of Page’s phone, uncovering another conversation he had in May 2022 – however this conversation was with an actual child.
“The child told you she was 12 years old, to which you responded ‘a very horny, naughty twelve’. You then told the child you were aged 56 years.
“You and the child engaged in a very highly sexualised conversation.”
Judge Alexandrides said Page then asked the child for “something to rub to”, before obtaining child exploitation material from her.
He jailed Page for four years, one month and 12 days, with a non-parole period of one year and ten months.
That sentence was backdated to his arrest last year, meaning Page will be eligible for parole in August 2025.
Nathan Fenwick
A Whyalla teacher groomed a young teenage student in a “cautious and deliberate” way by befriending him before exposing his sinister intentions.
Nathan Andrew Fenwick, 28, was jailed after a judge determined his autism diagnosis didn’t reduce his moral culpability.
During sentencing, the District Court heard Fenwick befriended the victim and offered to help him with his school work.
They exchanged messages outside school and Fenwick added him as a Facebook friend.
“The victim trusted you and looked on you as a kind of older brother,” Judge Timothy Heffernan said.
The court heard Fenwick would meet with the victim in secret at school and told him he loved him.
Fenwick’s devious behaviour progressed and he began sending the victim multiple naked photos of himself, the court heard.
“One time you suggested that there was plenty of room in your shower for both of you,” Judge Heffernan said.
Fenwick’s offending was exposed after the victim’s mother saw one of his messages.
Fenwick, of Whyalla, pleaded guilty to one aggravated count of communicating with a child to make them amenable to sex.
Judge Heffernan sentenced Fenwick to one year and five months jail, with a non-parole period of six months.
Alun Rowe
A former Catholic schoolteacher “created a perfect hell inside the head” of the girl he abused, a court has heard – one that, she says, he would “never be strong enough to survive”.
In the District Court, Alun Rowe listened by video link as his victim, who cannot be named, confronted him from the bar table.
In her victim impact statement, she said Rowe’s long-term manipulation of her anxiety, loneliness and affection had forever altered her life and stolen her future goals.
“I believed I was in love, that I had a very good friend who didn’t want to leave me, who was excited to see me every day, who genuinely cared about me,” she said.
“But there were times where the reality of my situation would sink in, and I felt disgusted.
“Alun, how could you do this to me and feel I was stupid enough to never tell anyone? How dare you blame me and threaten to kill yourself when I did speak out?
“You have created a perfect hell inside my head, and you would never be strong enough to survive inside it.”
Rowe, 57, of Woodcroft, pleaded guilty to maintaining an unlawful sexual relationship with a child – an offence now known as sexual abuse of a child.
He also pleaded guilty to possessing exploitation material.
Rowe abused his victim, who was under the age of 18, between 2019 and 2020 and was caught in possession of the exploitation material in 2023, following his arrest.
The court heard Rowe’s victim was a teenager at the time of the offending, and that she disclosed it to authorities several years after it occurred.
Judge Geraldine Davison will sentence Rowe at a later date.
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