Not guilty: Music teacher cleared of in-flight sex assault claim

A jury has found a Queensland music teacher not guilty of inappropriately touching a female student on a return flight from Japan.

A Queensland music teacher has been found not guilty by a jury of committing two indecent acts on a student, 17, during an international flight to Australia 11 years ago.

The teacher had given evidence at his Brisbane District Court trial denying he indecently touched the girl, during a return flight from Japan in 2011.

The man – who cannot be identified to protect the identity of the complainant – pleaded not guilty to two charges alleging he committed an indecent act on a female, without her consent, during the Jetstar flight.

The jury returned two not guilty verdicts after two-and-a-half hours of deliberation, on the fourth day of the Brisbane District Court trial.

The music teacher – a married father-of-two who had been the girl’s instrument teacher at a South East Queensland state high school the year before the alleged offence – is still employed by Education Queensland.

The woman, 27, who made a complaint to police in 2019, told the court she was indecently touched by the teacher, who was sitting next to her, after cabin lights dimmed.

She said the teacher put his hand on her knee and said, “Let me know if you want me to stop.”

The woman said he then moved his hand up her leg and under her underpants, touching the outside of her vagina, before she moved his hand away and told him to stop.

The teacher denied all the allegations.

While under cross-examination, the woman said, for the first time, that the teacher had indecently touched her by putting his hand down her pants, via the waistband.

However, the next day, when defence counsel Craig Eberhardt QC asked her about that new statement, she said: “That was speculation after a very long and tough day of questioning.”

The woman said she did not know how the teacher’s hand entered her pants, and admitted she had made a guess.

She told police in 2019 she thought she had been wearing stretchy pants known as jeggings during the flight, but told the court she could not remember what she was wearing.

Defence witnesses who had been on the flight said students had been expected to wear jeans or long shorts while travelling.

The woman told police and the court that after she arrived at Gold Coast Airport she told her then boyfriend and her best friend, now her husband, that a teacher had inappropriately touched her.

However the former boyfriend told the court he was not at the airport that day, and she only told him a few days later there had been an inappropriate incident on the plane.

In 2019 police recorded a phone call the woman, who had had no contact with the teacher since 2011, made to him.

She only mentioned him allegedly touching her leg and moving his hand up further and did not mention any touching the outside of her vagina.

Although the teacher said he was sorry if he did anything to hurt her or if he took things too far, he told the court he had been confused by the ex-student’s call.

Mr Eberhardt told the jury the teacher made no admissions of guilt during the call and the complainant had given inconsistent statements and evidence.

Another woman who had been a member of the tour group, told the court she saw the alleged victim sitting next to the teacher on the plane, silently crying.

But she had not mentioned it in her 2019 police statement and her evidence about where they were seated was different to the alleged victim’s evidence.

Defence witnesses who were on the 2011 tour said they did not see anyone upset on the flight and they said the teacher was generally regarded as honest.