Sarah Elizabeth Collins jailed over sexual intercourse, indecent assault of student under 16

A married schoolteacher who sexually abused a student - who told a court it had nearly destroyed her life - has been sentenced to jail.

Sarah Collins has been jailed. Picture: Nathan Schmidt

A married schoolteacher who sexually abused a student - who told a court it had nearly destroyed her life - has been sentenced to at least 15 months in jail.

Sarah Elizabeth Collins, 41, faced Penrith District Court on Friday after being found guilty of 17 charges relating to her relationship with the victim including multiple counts of indecent assault and sexual intercourse with someone under 16.

The court previously heard Collins, whose address on court documents is Bundeena, had struck up a relationship with the victim who was a student where Collins was a respected teacher and soccer coach.

The victim had developed a strong attachment to Collins after confiding in her about battling a health condition.

In delivering her judgment, Judge Sophia Beckett said Collins was not a pedophile and was in a “state of personal crisis” and suffering mental health conditions at the time.

Sarah Collins. Picture: Nathan Schmidt

She said a main stressor for Collins was the deterioration in the quality of relationship with her husband as she had come to realise she was homosexual, not bisexual.

“Had Ms Collins come to term with her sexuality at an earlier time and not sought to suppress it, she would have not engaged in a secret and age-inappropriate relationship,” Judge Beckett said. “I am satisfied she is unlikely to reoffend.”

Penrith Courthouse .

Judge Beckett said teachers hold a special role in society when it came to the protection of children.

“The community has no tolerance for relationships forged between children and people in authority or trusting relationships,” she said.

“This relationship was derived from that source. Schools ought to be a place where parents can send their child knowing they’ll be protected by teachers not that they need to be protected from them. Children out to be able to develop safely within those walls.”

In a lengthy and damning victim impact statement previously read out to the court, the victim detailed the ways in which the eight year period of abuse jeopardise her life.

“The impact of what Sarah Collins has done to me, my family, my friends and my community is beyond what words can express. I’ve kept the impacts of the abuse to myself for years and its nearly destroyed me,” the victim told the court.

“I trust her to help me with my (health condition) and she used it against me in the cruellest type of torture.

“I don’t understand how someone could corrupt all the innocence of a child for their gratification, she stole parts of me I‘ll never be able to get back.”

Collins was convicted of the offences and sentenced to 30 months imprisonment with a non parole period of 15 months. Taking into account one day spent in custody, Ms Collins will be eligible for parole in January 2025.