Commotion School of Performing Arts teacher Benjamin Stokes on trial for abuse

A southwest Sydney dance teacher accused of abusing four young students denied being “some sort of sexual offender” in a police interview about the grave allegations.

Benjamin Jay Stokes. Picture: Facebook

A southwest Sydney dance teacher accused of abusing four young male students denied he was “some sort of sexual offender” after conceding he touched one student on his bare stomach at his home.

Former Commotion School of Performing Arts owner Benjamin Stokes is defending six counts of grooming a child for sex, five charges of indecently assaulting a child and one count of meeting a child that had been groomed for sex at trial at Sydney District Court.

The allegations date back close to a decade ago to Stokes’ time at the Smeaton Grange studio.

On Wednesday morning, the court saw a recorded video interview between police and Stokes in respect of the allegations.

In the interview, Stokes admitted to “cuddling” a 10-year-old boy on his couch under a blanket and touching his bare stomach with his fingers on the waistband of his shorts.

A detective asked him why he had, many years later, messaged the boy to say “I will never forgive myself or let myself forget … I don’t understand how I was capable of something like that or what deranged mental state I was in”.

Benjamin Jay Stokes at Picton Local Court in July 2022. Picture: Annie Lewis

“He was a young 10-year-old looking up to his dance teacher and here I am putting him in a situation where (he’s thinking) what am I trying to get out of that,” Stokes responded.

“Not a sexual thing, I’ve projected a sense of … he’s not my kid, I should not be putting him in that situation where he feels responsible for making me feel happy or anything else like that.”

In another message to the complainant, Stokes had described himself as a “mess of a man”.

“Pathetic and broken and selfish and stupid,” Stokes wrote.

“I’m no longer the person capable of such monstrosity.”

In the interview, Stokes said this referred purely to the anxiety he thought he had caused the child by touching his stomach.

Another complainant had messaged Stokes to say “you manipulated me … what you did to me when I was a f—king kid, you disgust me”.

“It frightens me that you have the same ability to abuse your power and kids probably see you the same way I once did,” the complainant wrote to Stokes.

“Your word isn’t enough to convince me you won’t do it again, I’m stuck with this for the rest of my life because of your lapse in judgment – you’re a pathetic man and I genuinely wish you no peace or closure.”

Benjamin Stokes.

Stokes then fretted about his reputation and livelihood to the detectives.

He had earlier said the dance community had experienced renewed urgency about child safety and duty of care following the prosecution of disgraced dance teacher Grant Davies.

Davies – a former co-founder of RG Dance in Five Dock in Sydney’s inner west – was jailed for at least 18 years in 2016 for sexual offences against nine young students.

“If everyone’s suggesting I’m some sort of sexual offender and I’ve got untoward intentions with children, not only is it my livelihood, but it’s my reputation,” Stokes told detectives.

“These kids carry with them memories of being in a happy place, a studio that I now run, I’ve built it up to be a happy place – the thought of that being called into question …” Stokes trailed off.

The trial continues on Wednesday.