Exposed: South East Queensland teachers disgraced in court
From indecent acts on school grounds to offences committed off the clock, read about South East Queensland’s disgraced teachers and the misdeeds that led them to court.
Ipswich
Don't miss out on the headlines from Ipswich. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Teachers are entrusted members of the community, with the vital role of caring for our children.
Some of the individuals on this list breached that trust, while others saved their misdeeds for outside the schoolyard.
In Queensland, teachers who come before the court risk serious damage to their careers, regardless of whether their offences were committed on school grounds or not.
Any Queensland teacher employed by the Department of Education that is charged or convicted of an indictable offence is required by law to immediately notify the Department.
Depending on the allegations, they may well face a lengthy disqualification of their teacher’s registration as a result.
See the list of South East Queensland’s disgraced teachers and the misdeeds that led them to court:
CONVICTIONS RECORDED
ROBERT AUSTIN
Former Matthew Flinders Anglican College teacher Robert Owen Austin pleaded guilty to one count of sexual assault in December 2021.
The Maroochydore District Court heard at the time Austin had sexually assaulted a woman in her home in 2020.
Crown prosecutor Alex Stark said Austin was drunk and affected by marijuana at the time, when he pulled the woman down to the bed and “attempted to kiss her with his tongue while holding her hands next to her head and his full body weight on her”.
The victim wrote in her impact statement: “Prior to this night I had been in the best place finically, physically, emotionally and mentally I had in years, but this night destroyed this”.
“Not even my home is safe from reminders of that night as it occurred in my safe space”.
The court heard Austin had believed the encounter to be consensual.
He received a six-month suspended sentence for the offence.
Matthew Flinders Anglican College principal Stuart Meade confirmed Austin had resigned from his position.
DEAN CARELSE
A former Sunshine Coast private school teacher was sentenced to two years in prison last March for multiple indecent treatment charges.
Dean Carelse, aged 41-at the time of sentence, pleaded guilty to 19 charges including 14 counts of indecently treating a child under 16 (taking photograph etc) as a carer.
The Maroochydore District Court heard at the time Carelse had videoed childrens’ genitalia at a pool in November 28, 2019, and also groomed a 13-year-old between January 1, 2020 and February 15, 2021.
In March 2021, the police found 2026 images and 486 videos of pre-pubescent children under the age of 13 on two phones in Carelse’s possession.
Carelse’s two year prison sentence was to be suspended after 271 days, and his 271 days of pre-sentence custody was declared time-served.
The court heard at the time Carelse would likely be deported to South Africa after his release.
GLENN CHRISTOFFERSON
An Ipswich man who worked as a relief teacher at multiple schools was jailed last February for indecently treating three young girls.
Goodna man Glenn Norman Christofferson pleaded guilty at the time to 17 charges of the indecent treatment of a child under 16 as a carer.
The Ipswich District Court heard Christofferson had sexually assaulted the girls between 2002 and 2007 when he was their tutor.
The victims were aged between nine-years-old and 16-years-old, at various stages of the offending
One of the victims, now a mother, wrote in her victim impact statement that her life had been forever altered by Christofferson’s actions, and she still held great fear for herself and her children.
Christofferson received two years imprisonment, to be suspended for three years after he spent four months in jail.
MORGAN HANN
A former Bremer State High School music teacher and country music teacher pleaded guilty to indecently treating a child in 2021.
The Ipswich District Court heard at the time that Morgan John Hann had indecently treated a child under the age of 16 in 2019
The court heard the child was not a student.
In December 2021, Hann received a nine month prison sentence, wholly suspended for three years.
His teacher’s registration was suspended for at least 10 years after he was charged.
LEIGH MOIR
A former South Brisbane private school teacher was sentenced in 2019 after being found guilty of a range of child sex offences.
Leigh Herman Moir, 28 at the time, was sentenced for 55 charges including maintaining a relationship with a child and 48 charges of indecent treatment of children.
The Beenleigh District Court heard some of the children were under the age of 12, and as young as six.
Moir committed the crimes over a seven-year period at a school, his home, and a church in Birkdale.
He received a head sentence of six years’ jail, with parole eligibility after 15 months.
Parents of one of the victims said it was “horrifying and sickening” to hear the details read out in court.
The school in question said they offered counselling to the victims and made parents aware of serious allegations against Moir as soon as they themselves were notified.
JAMES TREASURE
A primary school teacher was jailed in 2019 after he filmed children at a Sunshine Coast beach and superimposed images of himself and children into sexually explicit films.
The Brisbane District Court heard at the time the man had also made sex tapes with a blow-up doll wearing a uniform from his school, and stuck photos of his students to its face.
James Treasure pleaded guilty in 2019 to two charges of making child exploitation material and one count of possessing the material.
The court heard at the time Treasure had come to the police’s attention after parents reported him following two children on the beach and holding his watch up toward them.
Police found Treasure in possession of 3900 child porn images, along with 13 videos he himself had taken up children’s skirts at the Sunshine Coast.
His defence barrister told the court his client had pedophilic disorder and had resigned from teaching.
Treasure received four years’ jail for making the child porn and three years’ behind bars for possessing the material.
SUYASH VAIDYA
A primary school teacher’s aide was arrested on the playground at Mansfield State School after police uncovered his child abuse material stash
Suyash Vaidya, 24 at the time of sentence, pleaded guilty to four charges in February 2021 including accessing, distributing and possessing child exploitation material.
The Brisbane District Court heard Vaidya had posed as young girls on Instagram and used the accounts to exchange and receive child abuse material.
Police arrested Vaidya after discovering 160 incriminating images and videos on his laptop and phone in November 2019.
The court heard Vaidya made full admissions to them and resigned from his job at the school.
He received an 18 month jail sentence, wholly suspended for two years, along with 18 months’ probation.
MATTHEW VILIAMU
A former teacher at Hills International College in Jimboomba was sentenced in 2021 after he threatened to kill his wife by pushing a loaded gun into her mouth.
Matthew Viliamu, 52 at the time, pleaded guilty to assault occasioning bodily harm, dangerous conduct with a weapon, failing to properly secure a weapon and two counts of common assault.
The Beenleigh District Court heard the father of three had assaulted his partner after she admitted to cheating on him with a co-worker.
Viliamu pushed her to the floor, causing a large bump on the bank of her head, along with disorientation and bleeding on her face.
He later told her she didn’t “deserve to live” and threatened to kill her multiple times while pointing at her with a loaded Glock.
Viliamu was sentenced to 12 months imprisonment with an immediate parole release date, and 434 days of presentence custody declared time-served.
Hills International College dismissed Viliamu immediately after they became away of the charges.
JARRED WANDS
A married former Toowoomba primary school teacher was found guilty in 2020 of exchanging explicit sexual images with a 14-year-old girl over the internet.
Jarred Lee Wands, 28 at the time of sentence, pleaded not guilty in Toowoomba District Court to 35 charges including possessing child exploitation material and using the internet to procure a child for a sexual act.
Wands claimed at trial that the girl had told him she was 16, but the jury determined that Wands had known the girl 14.
The court heard Wands was teaching Year 6 at the time of the offending, when he struck up an internet relationship with the girl on Omegle.
The two exchanged explicit images of themselves with one another, and also engaged in sexual intimacy over video link.
Wands was sentenced to two and a half years in jail, to be suspended after 12 months in custody for a three year operational period.
He was suspended from teaching when the charges came to light, and started his own computer business instead.
NO CONVICTIONS RECORDED
BRAYDEN WHITEHORN
A former special school teacher had his teaching licence suspended after police found him in possession of child exploitation material.
Pine Rivers Special School teacher Brayden Alexander Whitehorn pleaded guilty in October, 2021 to one charge of possessing child exploitation material.
The Brisbane District court heard at the time that police had discovered three child exploitation material images on Whitehorn’s computer hard drive in January, 2021.
He was charged four days later, and two days after that his teacher’s registration was suspended.
The court heard Whitehorn’s wife also left him after his offending was uncovered.
He was sentenced to 18 months’ probation, and no convictions were recorded.
‘Annastacia Palaszczuk saw the writing on the wall’
Voters have come out swinging for Labor after an exit poll showed the LNP is set to romp home in the Queensland election.
‘See ya’, ‘not before time’: Readers fire up over exit poll bombshell
Readers have come out swinging at individuals as they celebrate a Courier-Mail exit poll that shows the LNP is set to romp home in the Queensland election, but many others are warning it may not be a done deal just yet.