Dance teacher Benjamin Stokes charged with sexually assaulting young student

A Camden dance teacher has denied two counts of sexually abusing a young student.

A Camden dance teacher has denied two counts of sexually abusing a young male student when he was between nine and eleven years old.

Benjamin Jay Stokes, 35, appeared in Moss Vale Local Court to plead not guilty to the historical charges from 2012.

Between January and September 2012, police allege the dance teacher sexually assaulted a young male student between the ages of nine and eleven in the Camden area.

According to the court documents, police allege Mr Stokes committed an act of indecency on the child by kissing him and inserting his tongue into the alleged victim’s mouth. Police also allege the 35-year-old dance teacher took advantage of the alleged victim while he sat in the older man’s lap by touching his penis.

Benjamin Jay Stokes was represented by his lawyer in Picton Court House on November 9. Picture: Google

The court heard the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions is still debating whether to take over the case from the police.

Mr Stokes was arrested on October 12 after police executed a search warrant at his Harrington Park home where they found a number of electronic devices, which will undergo forensic examination.

The arrest was the result of a five-month police investigation into reports of a young boy being sexually abused by a dance teacher nine years ago in the Camden area.

The court heard Mr Stokes has pleaded not guilty to the two charges of aggravated indecent assault of a victim under the authority of an offender.

His matter will next appear in Picton Local Court on January 19, 2022.