Disgraced Logan teacher Matthew Viliamu, 55, barred from teaching after terrorising wife with gun

A disgraced South East Queensland teacher will remain barred from teaching after he placed a tracking device on his wife’s car, threatened to kill her and pushed a loaded gun into her mouth.

Matthew Viliamu. Picture: File

A disgraced Logan teacher will remain barred from teaching until September 2026 after he threatened to kill his wife and pushed a loaded gun into her mouth.

Former Hills International College teacher Matthew Viliamu, 55, turned violent towards his wife after she confessed to infidelity, a recent Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal (QCAT) decision has revealed.

QCAT member Jane Bishop detailed how Viliamu, a competitive shooter who owned multiple guns, had caught his wife in the lie in June 2020 after he placed a tracking device on her car.

Ms Bishop said Viliamu then threatened to kill the woman with a loaded firearm – aiming it towards her, putting it against the side of her head, and ultimately putting it inside her mouth.

He also assaulted her, causing injuries that required treatment in hospital, she said.

The woman was able to discretely ask her mother for help during a phone call some days later, in which Viliamu had “directed” her to say that “everything was fine,” Ms Bishop said.

Viliamu’s teaching registration had been suspended in July 2020 after he was charged with the domestic violence charge of torture.

That charge was later dropped, and Viliamu pleaded guilty at Beenleigh District Court in September 2021 to lesser charges of dangerous conduct with a weapon, assault occasioning bodily harm (DV), failing to properly secure a weapon, and two counts of common assault (DV).

Viliamu was sentenced to two years and six months jail, with immediate parole and 434 days in presentence custody declared as time-served.

At the time of Viliamu’s sentence, a spokesman from Hills International College said he had been immediately dismissed after they became aware of the charges.

The Queensland College of Teachers (QCT) later referred the matter to QCAT, where Ms Bishop was tasked with deciding whether Viliamu should face any further disciplinary action.

In a decision published last Wednesday, Ms Bishop agreed with the QCT’s submissions that grounds for disciplinary action had been established.

She acknowledged Viliamu had previously had a “clean record” and that he had written a letter of remorse to the court.

But Ms Bishop said the violent nature of Viliamu’s offending put his case into the “most serious” category.

“Notwithstanding the sanction already served by (Viliamu), the Tribunal considered that the safety of students, colleagues, parents and the wider community was of the highest importance,” she said.

“The professional standing of a teacher and the teaching profession must also be maintained.”

The Tribunal ordered that Viliamu be prohibited from reapplying for registration or permission to teach for five years from the date of his release on parole – September 8, 2021.

If Viliamu does reapply, he will be required to submit an independent psychological report addressing a number of factors including his understanding of the need to protect children from physical, psychological and emotional harm.