Daily Telegraph Editorial: Teacher exploits legal loophole to have sex with student

PARENTS should have a reasonable expectation that when they send their children to school, they will not be seduced by their teachers — and that if that does happen, the law will step in and act. But a bizaare legal loophole has helped a teacher avoid jail for just that.

A teacher had sex with a year 12 student but a legal loophole means he has escaped four years jail.

PARENTS should have a reasonable expectation that when they send their children to school, even children who are in their teens and past the age of consent, they will not be seduced by their teachers — and that if that does happen, the law will step in and act.

Yet in a bizarre case reported exclusively in today’s Daily Telegraph, the Court of Criminal Appeal has upheld a decision which found a NSW high school teacher did not break the law when he had sex with one of his Year 12 students because she was not in his class at the time of their relationship.

This despite him having taught her in previous years and his having later approached her in the school playground to tell her he was attracted to her, exchanging phone numbers, and having liaisons with her at his house and, in one instance, in a van fitted out with a mattress.

But while the age of consent in NSW is 16, it remains an offence to have a sexual relationship with someone under 18 if one is a supervisor or guardian — or teacher.

NSW Attorney-General Mark Speakman is considering a change to the law. Picture: AAP Image/Dan Himbrechts

The reasons for this should be obvious, namely that the potential for the abuse of power in such circumstances is far too great, particularly when the older party to the relationship is a teacher who can give grades and affect one’s future.

The penalties, too, are clear, with a jail sentence of up to four years waiting for anyone found guilty of the offence.

The judge’s reading of the law in this case was a narrow one, with a judgment being handed down stating that “criminal liability does not arise unless sexual intercourse takes place while that position of authority is being exercised by way of the provision of instruction”. As a result, the teacher has walked free from this relationship without any criminal record — though he has, properly, lost his job.

But while it is good that the man in question “won’t be returning to any school”, according to the Department of Education, it suggests that there is a glaring loophole in the law which needs to be urgently closed by the state government.

The relationship between teachers and students is based on trust with the ultimate goal of education, and there must be a clear and bright line that ensures that this trust is never broken.

Ashes, Ashes, Brits fall down

THREE cheers to Australia’s test team who put in a devastating performance against the Brits yesterday in Adelaide.

Any suggestion that it might be the pink ball under lights confusing the Poms was put to bed as the wickets fell one after another.

The English team lost four batsmen in the first two and a half hours of play, and by tea the collapse was all but complete with England on 4/128 off 46 overs.

Chasing a huge 8/442, the English have a lot of work to do if they want a chance at the series — and at keeping the Ashes in play by the time it rolls into Sydney.

Eat at home for health

STRESSED and tired parents, confusing labels, and the growing prevalence of every day “treat” foods are combining to make for an Australia where mums and dads are increasingly unsure of what they should feed their kids and a generation of young people for some being overweight is the “new normal”.

According to the results of the latest Royal Children’s Hospital National Child Health Poll, which surveys almost 2,000 households quarterly, parents and kids are having a harder time than ever forming healthy habits when it comes to what they eat and drink.

Parents are struggling with diet advice as. Picture: Brendan Radke

Among the survey’s findings, a quarter of parents think fruit drinks are healthier than water (despite the added sugar), more than nine out of 10 school-aged children don’t eat the recommended daily serve of vegetables, and two-thirds of parents have a hard time figuring out how much sugar is added to food.

But it’s not all bad news: most parents reported trying to serve healthier home-cooked meals most nights of the week, with kids picking up good habits by helping to shop for and prepare the evening meal.