Dance teacher Benjamin Stokes learns fate for grooming, molesting four young students

Benjamin Stokes has been sentenced after an 11th-hour admission he sexually groomed four young male students from his popular performing arts studio.

Benjamin Stokes will spend up to eight-and-a-half years behind bars. Picture: Facebook

A prominent Sydney dance teacher who made a shock 11th-hour court confession to grooming and molesting four of his young students has been jailed for nearly a decade.

Former Commotion Performing Arts head Benjamin Stokes spent years denying grave allegations he had abused the four male dancers between 2012 and 2015 – including to a District Court jury as he defended 12 indecent assault and child grooming charges at trial in February this year.

However, after weeks of witness evidence and just days out from the trial’s predicted ending, Stokes changed his pleas to guilty in a shock twist after further damning evidence came to light showing he had lied when giving evidence about his relationship with one of the teens.

Judge James Bennett on Wednesday sentenced Stokes to a total of eight-and-a-half years jail on six counts of grooming a child under 14 for unlawful sexual activity, five counts of indecently assaulting a child under 16, and one count of meeting a child under 14 after grooming for sexual activity.

Stokes will be eligible to apply for parole in 2029 after serving a minimum five years of his sentence behind bars.

Stokes pictured outside Picton Local Court during earlier proceedings, in July 2022 Picture: Annie Lewis

The court heard the now 38-year-old Stokes had spent two decades developing Commotion Performing Arts into a major dance and performing arts studio in the Macarthur area, attracting thousands of students to its Mount Annan and Smeaton Grange complexes over the years.

However, Stokes told a psychologist he was “at his darkest point” in life in the months leading up to his crimes, having suffered ongoing depression, isolation and low self-esteem following bullying throughout childhood.

The court heard Stokes befriended some of the young dancers in his studio before inviting them to his home, where he molested them.

One student gave evidence that Stokes kissed him and touched him on the penis while they were sitting on his lounge.

“Are you comfortable?” Stokes asked the boy, who replied “no”.

Another student said Stokes befriended him on social media and their conversation soon turned sexual, with Stokes telling the boy he was “handsome” and describing sexual fantasies involving the two of them.

The court heard Stokes also sent the boy a picture of his penis and asked “do you find it hot?”

‘BREACH OF TRUST’

Court documents said Stokes pestered the boy to send him intimate images in return.

The court heard Stokes also sent the boy videos of himself masturbating in the shower and at one stage met up with him in a park close to his house.

Judge Bennett said Stokes rubbed the boy’s thigh but he “flinched” and moved away when Stokes attempted to reach towards his crotch area.

A third student said he too had been groomed by Stokes, who sent him sexually explicit pictures and images online, then fondled his genitals inside the studio one day.

The fourth victim told the court Stokes rubbed him on the leg, close to his groin area.

Stokes’ legal team conceded the offending constituted a “breach of trust and authority” given Stokes’ role as the victims’ dance teacher.

In sentencing Stokes, Judge Bennett found he had limited insight into the impact of his crimes on his victims, but retained the support of his family and had been assessed as medium to low-risk of reoffending.