Gavin Duncan, Katoomba High School: Former teacher on sex charges
A former Blue Mountains high school teacher and rugby union player has told a court he was sorry for having sex with a student after her victim impact statement revealed she had hit “rock bottom” afterwards.
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A young victim has told a court her life had “hit rock bottom” in the months after a former Katoomba High School teacher had sex with her three times just before her 18th birthday.
Gavin Malcolm Duncan, 32, of Jamisontown, has pleaded guilty to three counts of having sexual intercourse with a person under special care.
Duncan and his victim, who can’t be named for legal reasons, had sex three times across a period of three weeks in his then Glenmore Park house while she was still a student.
The victim read out a Victim Impact Statement to Judge Sharon Harris prior to Thursday’s sentencing hearing at Penrith District Court in which she said Duncan, who played union for Blue Mountains Rugby Club, had been her teacher sometime prior to the offending.
“I felt comfortable opening up, and he was always happy to listen to me,” she said.
“This made him the best person in my life at the time, because I believed he cared about me.
“Every choice I made, I would ask myself how Gav would react if he found out, and he always knew what I was up to … which I now realise was part of the grooming.”
She said she had developed depression and anxiety since Duncan was charged last year.
“People told me I’d lived out my fantasy while he had to suffer,” she said.
“It was the last I heard from any of my school friends.
“I’ve been told I wasted my life and should have said no, but no one understands what it’s like to be groomed.
“I finally decided I want to live for the girls that came before me, and the one that would have come after.”
In court, Duncan said he had opened up to his victim about tragedies in his life, including the deaths of his mother and cousin.
He said he now understands the impact his offending had on her.
“I’ve had cause to reflect on my behaviour,” he said.
“I’ve had trouble sleeping, purely based on the damage I would have done to her.
“Hearing her victim impact statement eats at me that my actions resulted in any harm to her or her social or work life.”
He told the court he was “extremely sorry” for his actions.
He will be sentenced next Tuesday.