Gaye McKeown: Teacher accused of sex with students asks court to consider alleged victim motivation
A teacher accused of having sex with two 15-year-old male students has asked the court to “carefully consider” the motivations of the teens, who complained to police two decades after the alleged incidents. The woman has pleaded not guilty to all 21 offences.
The Express
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A jury has been told to “consider the motivations” of two men who allege they engaged in underage sex with an English teacher at their southwest Sydney all boys school in the late 1990s.
Gaye Lee McKeown, 50, has been charged with 21 offences including sexual intercourse under authority and indecent assault on two students at Birrong Boys’ High School, both aged 15. She has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
A jury trial, before Judge John Pickering, has previously heard the then-married mother allegedly connected with the students at school through flirtatious compliments across a period of time.
Crown prosecutor David Patch told the court McKeown, then aged in her late 20s and known as Gaye Smith, allegedly drove the two teenage boys to secluded carparks and beaches to engage in a range of sex acts. Mr Patch told the jury on one occasion the woman drove one of the boys to her Picnic Point home and allegedly gave him vodka lemon ruskis before she performed fellatio.
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It is also alleged sex acts took place inside a granny flat of the teacher’s parents Panania property with a student.
Defence barrister Louise Jardim told the court there was no dispute a legal consensual relationship between one of the alleged victims and teacher took place after McKeown’s employment at Birrong Boys’ High School, but denied all allegations sex acts took place when both were involved at the all-boys school.
“Mckeown is the first to admit that back then, over 20 years ago, when she was in her first year of teaching, she made some poor decisions,” she said. “(She) continued to teach at various schools across her adult life.”
“At this very early stage of the trial, (McKeown) simply asks you to keep an open mind … to consider (the victim’s) memories after all these years and consider very carefully their motivations.”
The court heard one of the alleged victims first complained to police in 2017, after making an appointment with his lawyer and divulging the alleged sexual abuse.
Mr Patch previously told the court McKeown allegedly bought the alleged victim’s silence for $29,000 after the adult relationship between the pair ended.
The trial before Judge John Pickering continues.