Former teacher Glenn Norman Christofferson sentenced for indecent treatment of student

A disgraced Queensland school teacher now working in a different job has confessed to the indecent treatment of a nine-year-old female student in his care. *DISTRESSING CONTENT

Glenn Norman Christofferson, 52, was sentenced in the District Court at Gladstone after pleading guilty to indecent treatment of a child under 12. Generic image.

A former Queensland school teacher has been sentenced after he came forward with a confession about the indecent treatment of one of his female students.

Glenn Norman Christofferson, 52, was sentenced in the District Court at Gladstone after pleading guilty to indecent treatment of a child under 12.

The court heard the offence was committed in 2006 when Christofferson, then 34, was a school teacher in Queensland and the victim was a nine-year-old female student.

It was told the girl had approached Christofferson to show him her shoes, and she lifted her right foot to do so.

“You grabbed her leg and lifted it higher and ran your hand underneath her school uniform and rubbed her upper thigh,” Judge Vicki Loury said.

The court heard Christofferson was charged in December 2006 but proceedings were discontinued in March 2008 as a result of a ruling in a pre-trial hearing.

In September 2023, a statement was taken from the complainant at the instigation of police or the Director of Public Prosecutions.

“She (complainant) had, until that time, not given your offending any thought but nonetheless she provided a statement, and that statement was disclosed to your lawyers,” Judge Loury said.

“You telephoned a staff member at the DPP and confessed to the offending.”

In October 2023, police spoke to Christofferson and he admitted the offending, the court heard.

“You said you couldn’t recall this particular child but you wanted to apologise for your conduct and you were charged in November, 2023,” Judge Loury said.

Gladstone Courthouse.

Prior to that, in February 2022, Christofferson was sentenced in the District Court at Ipswich and jailed after pleading guilty to numerous charges, predominantly indecent treatment of children offences.

That offending occurred while Christofferson worked as a teacher between 2002 and 2007 and involved three girls aged between nine and 16.

In the 2022 proceedings, the court heard one of the girls was a student of Christofferson’s, and when police asked him why he sexually abused them, “lust” was his retort.

It was also told the Rockhampton-born man grew up in a loving family and was “highly” educated, with a bachelor’s degree in education and business and a master’s degree in accounting and business.

In 2022, the sentencing judge described Christofferson as being “genuinely remorseful” for his offending.

On September 12, 2024, Judge Loury said Christofferson’s plea of guilty to the single indecent treatment of a child under 12 charge was “of significance.”

“Because your confession to it allowed the charge to be brought again in the circumstances where a decision had been made back in 2008 to not further proceed with the matter,” Judge Loury said.

“So your plea of guilty is very significant in that context.”

A barrister said Christofferson, a single man, was currently on a suspended sentence, living in Ipswich and working as a roofer.

During sentencing, Judge Loury noted Christofferson had not committed any offences of a similar nature since 2006.

“Which tends to suggest that you have demonstrated that you have rehabilitated, and obviously enough you don’t work as a teacher any longer,” she said.

Judge Loury said the offence was serious and involved a “gross breach of trust” by Christofferson.

“Most significantly, I must take into account totality issues and determine what sentence would have been imposed upon you, had you been dealt with for this offence when you came before the District Court in February 2022.”

Judge Loury sentenced Christofferson to six months’ jail, suspended after serving two months, for an operational period of 12 months.

She declared two months’ pre-sentence custody as time already served under this sentence.

“So whilst the suspended sentence would have finished in February, it will now extend through until September next year,” Judge Loury said.