Gaye Grant: Illawarra Catholic school paedophile teacher unmasked 40 years after grooming boy, 10

A vulnerable primary school student thought he could confide in his teacher, however, she abused that trust by raping the boy numerous times which she hid under the guise of loving him.

She was the “cool teacher” students could trust, however, 40 years on, Catholic school teacher Gaye Grant has been defrocked as a wicked child rapist who exploited one of those students.

And the brave victim – who was raped over a two-year period starting when he was just 10 – helped police nab her, assisting with an undercover sting in which he secretly recorded phone conversations Grant, in which she confessed to the horrific offending.

Grant taught at St Paul‘s Catholic Primary School in Albion Park for more than two decades, and in that time, took advantage of the boy after he revealed to her he’d been assaulted by an older male during a sporting event.

The now 76-year-old groomed the boy during the 1970s with her crimes extending from the classroom to the bedroom when her family wasn‘t home.

Documents tendered to Wollongong District Court revealed Grant raped the boy numerous times and professed her love for him on a piece of scrap paper in which she begged him to take her back after he ended their “relationship”.

The documents also said the man, now in his 50s, confronted Grant in taped telephone calls last year where she said her deteriorating health was punishment “from God” for her sins.

Grant appeared briefly in Wollongong District Court earlier this month after previously pleading guilty to maintaining an unlawful relationship with a child.

The crimes occurred while Gaye Grant taught at St Paul’s Catholic Primary School in Albion Park during the 1970s.

The court heard the educator-turned-paedophile treated the boy like a “teacher’s pet” and would often drive him home after school, where the boy had once told her about being assaulted by an older male – an allegation his parents refused to believe.

Many of the incidents took place at Grant‘s home on Theodore St in the southern Illawarra suburb of Oak Flats – a five-minute drive from the school.

Grant had urged him to fondle and suck on her breast and on another occasion she masturbated the naked boy in her bathroom.

The offending also occurred within the walls of the school with Grant beckoning the boy to sit on her lap after school before kissing him and ushering him home.

Gaye Grant pictured in a school photo in the 1990s. Picture: Supplied

According to the court documents, Grant‘s offending became increasingly sexualised.

One evening, Grant invited him over and escorted him into a caravan parked in her yard and fed him sweets before putting on some music and stripping down to her nightie.

Grant undressed and fondled the boy before raping him after which she expressed her love for him.

The court heard Grant brought the boy, along with her children and his siblings, to a Shoalhaven Heads caravan park where early one morning she raped him.

After raping the boy multiple times in one day, Grant told him they needed to have an alibi if they were to be caught by her husband.

She told him to say he had fallen asleep watching TV or listening to music – this was the last time she raped the child.

The documents said the boy began to realise what Grant was going wasn‘t normal or right and began to distance himself from her.

Gaye Grant will be sentenced in Wollongong District Court later this year.

However, at a party at Grant‘s house, she pulled him into the caravan and asked why he’d been avoiding her.

“I am breaking it off, I am not doing this anymore,” the boy said which led to Grant melting down in tears.

Grant was desperate to continue the unlawful relationship, so she tore out a piece of paper from a school notebook and penned words to the effect of “[Victim], I apologise for upsetting you. Can we still be together? I still love you and miss you. Love, Gaye OOOXXX”.

The victim disclosed the abuse to his wife at the end of 2019, however, when he sat down to tell his parents the conversation became heated, leaving the victim feeling as though they were more concerned about their standing within the Catholic community.

In mid-2021, the victim reported the atrocities to police who instigated a surveillance device warrant to tap calls between the man and Grant.

“Please don‘t do anything terrible to me,” Grant begged down the line.

“I‘ve been saying to God, all the pain he has given me, back problems and everything else. I take it as penance because I am very sorry for anything I ever did … You know, I am very sorry.

“If I could turn back time nothing would ever happen, I would not go near anybody … I have had my issues too. It was nothing intentional ever to hurt you because I thought the world of you. You know that.”

Grant was arrested at Lake Illawarra Command a few days later where she agreed she had spent time with the victim.

She admitted she had penned a letter to the boy, but said it read something like “Please, please, please, [victim] come over and talk to me” and she recalled him throwing it in the bin.

Grant told police she didn‘t have sex with the boy “as many times as he’s made out” before telling them she had told him ”you don’t have to do this. I never, ever encouraged him to have sex with me”.

The deflections continued as Grant tried to shift blame onto the victim, telling the officers the incidents started with the boy kissing her which led to them having sex.

Grant will learn her fate in December when she‘s sentenced in Wollongong District Court.

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