Tabor College music teacher Janelle Colville Fletcher appears in court charged with child sexual offences

A music teacher and Adelaide Fringe performer has appeared in court charged with child sex offences.

A woman has appeared in court charged with an historical child sexual offence – and has been banned from contacting staff or students from two private schools under her bail conditions.

Janelle Colville Fletcher, 38, of Trinity Gardens, was arrested over the weekend and appeared in the Adelaide Magistrates Court on Monday afternoon to seek bail on a charge of making a child amenable to sexual activity.

The alleged offence is said to have occurred in regional South Australia some years ago.

Ms Fletcher, who is yet to enter a plea to the charge, appeared via AVL from the City Watchhouse.

Janelle Colville Fletcher had appeared in court charged with child sex offending. Picture: Supplied

Janelle Colville Fletcher was the Tabor College’s head of music and began teaching at the school in 2016. Picture: Supplied

A police prosecutor did not oppose Ms Fletcher’s release on bail but asked she be banned from attending at or contacting any staff at Tabor College and Mary MacKillop College, as well as named witnesses.

None of the alleged offending is said to have occurred on the grounds of either school.

According to the Tabor College website, Ms Fletcher was the school’s head of music and began teaching at the school in 2016.

According to the Adelaide Fringe website, she premiered a solo show titled “So Flutatious” at the festival earlier this year.

The website states she was a “talented multi-instrumentalist” who has “specialised in playing classical flute for over twenty years”.

“She is a trusted authority in the field of music education, which has solidified her presence in the academia realm globally, as well as locally,” the website says.

“On a local scale, Janelle regularly engages her students, and the wider community, in events which promote the power of music to reach people on an emotional, spiritual, and ultimately creative level.”

The court heard that she was due to reappear in court on Wednesday on an earlier file, which alleges a charge of adult, sexual abuse of a child.

That offence is also alleged to have occurred in regional SA a number of years ago.

Magistrate Ben Sale released Ms Fletcher on bail on a number of conditions including that she must not leave the state.

He imposed the communication bans requested by SA Police and also banned her from engaging “in any child-related work”.

“It’s largely the identical bail conditions that you were on in relation to the other matter but there are other places and other persons that you are forbidden to attend at or communicate with,” he said.

She is due to return to court on Wednesday.