Ben Fenner: Reddam House teacher’s sex abuse sentence reduced on appeal

A British schoolteacher at an elite private girls’ school in Sydney who sexually abused a teenage student has had a win in court after 25 people vouched for his good character prior to his vile crimes.

A schoolteacher who sexually abused a teenage student at an elite private girls’ school in Sydney has had his sentence reduced after three appeal judges found his prior good character and other redeeming features had not been given enough weight in his sentence.

Ben Fenner, 36, pleaded guilty to seven counts of sexual intercourse with a person under his care after conducting a months-long sexual relationship with a 17-year-old female student at Reddam House in Bondi, where he was a biology teacher.

Eight similar offences against the same girl were taken into account on sentencing in the District Court.

Fenner was sentenced to three years and nine months’ imprisonment in October 2020 after the court heard foul details of the way in which he took advantage of the student, who was under significant personal stress at the time.

Ben Fenner outside Downing Centre Court in 2020. Picture: Dylan Coker

The court then heard how the college encouraged senior students to contact teachers out of hours for educational support, with one of these conversations turning sexual when Fenner asked the student about love bites he had seen on her.

The pair subsequently engaged in 15 consensual sex acts – often unprotected, at beaches and homes in the eastern suburbs and Central Coast in 2018.

The first time the pair had sex, Fenner picked the teen up from her home and took her to his place, while on another occasion he picked her up from a fellow student’s party and the pair engaged in sex acts at a beach near Rose Bay.

On June 11 2018, Fenner took the student to a place in Kurnell where the pair had previously participated in a biology class excursion and they had sex on a rock facing the ocean.

Fenner expressed his remorse to the victim and a treating psychologist but appealed his sentence in the Court of Criminal Appeal on the basis the sentencing judge had not given sufficient weight to his prior good character and lack of criminal record.

The former Reddam House teacher in 2020. Picture: Christian Gilles

Supreme Court Justice David Davies joined by Justices Peter Johnson and Geoffrey Bellew found this ground of appeal had been made out.

“More than 25 references were put forward at the sentence hearing from friends, family and people for whom the applicant had worked, including since the time he lost his job as a result of the present charges,” Justice Davies said.

“The referees all spoke of his good character and work ethic.”

The court also said Fenner’s 10 years of prosocial and law-abiding employment as a schoolteacher prior to his crimes should have been taken into account on sentence.

“This was not a case involving an offender who deliberately set out to use the benefits of his apparent good character to obtain a trusted position with the specific purpose of committing the offences in mind,” Justice Davies said.

“For the period he had been a schoolteacher he had demonstrated his actual good character in the course of his employment, as well as in other areas of his life outside of his employment.”

The court also heard Fenner has since undertaken a corrective rehabilitation program during his imprisonment, though he has been unable to undertake other sex offender programs because his permanent residency visa has been cancelled by the Australian Border Force.

Fenner’s sentence was quashed and he was resentenced to three years’ imprisonment – a nine-month reduction of his original sentence.

With a non-parole period of one year and 10 months, Fenner will be eligible for parole on October 8 2022.

At his original sentencing, Fenner’s victim gave an emotional victim impact statement about what her teacher’s breach of trust had done to her.

“I was going through the most stressful time of my life … (Fenner) took advantage of that,” she said.

“He should’ve stopped … he knew the rules. You have taken so much away from me, my friends and my high school experience.”