Stuart Van Dyken: Inner west School teacher sex trial starts
The opening of an inner west teacher’s alleged sex assault trial heard he made a student perform a sex act on him in a classroom after everyone else had gone home. Several students will testify during the trial that it was common for teens to “hang out” in his office after hours. He denies the charges.
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An inner west high school teacher’s compliments toward a young girl allegedly became increasingly sexual before he asked her to perform oral sex on him in an empty classroom.
Inner west school teacher Stuart Robert Van Dyken’s judge alone trial began at Downing Centre District Court on Monday, which heard a detailed account of how he allegedly sexually assaulted the girl in late 2018.
The 51-year-old, from Leppington, has pleaded not guilty to sexual intercourse with a child under special care, and to an alternate charge of inciting a child over 16 to perform an act of indecency.
Prosecutors will allege the teacher and the girl were talking alone after hours in his office when the conversation “shifted” and he offered to perform oral sex on her, which she refused, before asking if she would give him oral sex “right now” and told her to meet him in another room.
Crown prosecutor Linda Barnes told the court the girl agreed but believed Van Dyken – known as a prankster – was “joking” as she walked to the room, following his orders to check for CCTV cameras on the way.
Ms Barnes said the “next thing” the girl knew, she was being encouraged to unzip the then 51-year-old’s pants before he stood between her and the door.
Intimidated, she attempted to remove herself but Van Dyken propositioned her to perform oral sex on him, the court heard.
The girl got down on her knees and started to perform oral sex on him, the court heard.
Ms Barnes said the girl then backed off telling the teacher she could not do it, drawing a “sigh” from Van Dyken.
The girl left the school grounds, waited to see Van Dyken's car pull out of the carpark, before going to the library to use a friend's phone to call her parents.
Ms Barnes said the accused had for several years complimented the girl on her appearance, which he does not deny.
Van Dyken, who taught at the school for 10 years, agrees the girl was in his office on the day but refutes accusations that his conversations were of a “sexual nature”, and maintains that no sexual act took place.
The court heard several students will testify during the trial that it was common for their classmates to “hang out” in Van Dyken’s office after hours.
It will be alleged he “joked all the time” and chatted to pupils about his rendezvous with women he met on dating app Tinder.
Van Dyken also admits to kissing the girl on the forehead before the day of the alleged offences and to having photos of her stored on his phone behind locked app PinSafe, but will argue that was not sinister.
The trial before Judge Helen Syme continues.