LIST: Dirty teachers of Queensland Courts exposed
The vile deeds of these former teachers and teacher’s aides have been exposed as they faced courts across Queensland for disturbing crimes against children.
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The vile deeds of these former teachers and teacher’s aides have been exposed as they faced courts across Queensland for disturbing crimes against children.
In Queensland, any criminal conviction can seriously damage a teacher’s chances of ever working in the industry again.
The Queensland College of Teachers guidelines state that they must cancel a teacher’s registration if they are convicted of a serious offence or become a “relevant excluded person”.
This includes anyone subject to a sexual offender order or a disqualification under the Child Protection act.
Anyone classified as a “relevant excluded person” is then barred from reapplying to teach.
The former teachers and teachers aides on this list have each been convicted in Queensland for sexual offending against children.
See the full list:
BODEN ASHWORTH – SUNSHINE COAST
Boden Reece Ashworth exploited his position as a teacher’s aide to take explicit images of schoolchildren’s genitalia.
The Maroochydore District Court heard at his sentence in July how he photographed children at schools and an after school care between 2017 and 2022.
Police found pictures on Ashworth’s phone in a secure photo vault app of six young children in a state of undress while using the toilet.
Only four were able to be identified, but the court heard it was clear that all the children had been under 12 years old.
Crown prosecutor Michael Gawrych said the children’s privacy had been “exploited and violated”.
He challenged a psychologist’s report in which Ashworth denied having a sexual interest in children, saying there was no other explanation for the “egregious” offending.
Ashworth pleaded guilty to six counts of indecent treatment of a child under 12 by taking photographs, and one of possessing child exploitation material.
He was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in jail, suspended after six months in actual custody.
He was also placed on a three-year probation order.
BRADLEY FLAVEL – LOGAN
Bradley William Flavel plied a 15-year-old girl with alcohol before having sex with her.
The Beenleigh District Court heard at Flavel’s sentence how he had been volunteering as a dance teacher at Rochedale State High School in 2013.
In October that year, he began messaging the girl on Facebook about his dance class and asked her to hang out.
The girl agreed and went for a drive with him and a friend of hers, during which he encouraged her to drink alcohol.
Flavel, 21 at the time, sexually abused the girl in his car at a forest in Daisy Hill – and then later at his home while her friend waited in the car.
Flavel pleaded guilty a decade later to two counts of indecent treatment of a child under 16 and one count of carnal knowledge of a child under 16.
Judge Rowan Jackson said a term of actual imprisonment was not necessary, as Flavel had no similar criminal history and had not reoffended since.
He sentenced Flavel to 18 months prison, wholly suspended for two years.
Outside of court, the victim said she didn’t want Flavel’s life to be ruined.
“What happened is sad but I don’t want him to go to prison,” she said.
“It won’t change anything, I just wanted it to be over.”
LUCAS GILL – BRISBANE
Former Mount Maria teacher Lucas John Gill contacted a child through Snapchat and secretly recorded her engaging in “explicit and degrading activities”.
The Brisbane District Court heard at his sentence how Gill had “directed” the girl, who had identified herself as 13.
He also sent the girl a video of himself masturbating, the court heard.
Crown prosecutor Elise Adams said Gill had also “inadvertently” captured a video of a child who was changing in the bathroom in his house.
She said he then intentionally re-recorded the footage in order to keep it.
The court heard police uncovered a significant volume of child exploitation material when they seized Gill’s phone.
Gill pleaded guilty in February to charges including grooming a child under 16, three counts of making child exploitation material, distributing child exploitation material, possessing child exploitation material, and using electronic communication with intent to procure a child under 16.
He was sentenced to four-and-a-half-years in jail, suspended after 18 months.
PAUL GREALY – BRISBANE
Former teacher Paul Edward Grealy was convicted in May 2024 for his relationship with a 15-year-old student two decades ago.
Sarah Kopp had been Grealy’s physical education student at Urangan State High when their relationship started.
After school, she went on to marry and have children with Grealy, before later divorcing.
Ms Kopp reported the relationship to police in 2018, and Grealy has since been sentenced to two-and-a-half years in jail.
At the time of his arrest in 2020, Grealy was teaching at Brisbane’s Ambrose Treacy College.
Ms Kopp gave evidence at Geary’s Brisbane District Court trial, in which a jury convicted him of five counts of indecent treatment and one of maintaining a relationship with her as a child.
After Grealy’s sentence, Ms Kopp said she was willing to be identified to protect other children and raise awareness about grooming.
“I want people to have a full understanding of those types of relationships that start when children are 14, 15, 16, so that people can understand the true effects of those things and how damaging they are,” she recently told The Australian.
DAMIAN MCALEER – TOOWOOMBA
Former Harristown State High School teacher Damian Gerard McAleer attempted to groom a girl via Instagram over a two-month period.
The Toowoomba District Court was told at McAleer’s sentence in May how McAleer met the victim during an extra-curricular event in 2022.
The girl initially messaged McAleer, asking him to pick her and another girl up from a park.
The two then exchanged thousands of messages in the following two months over social media.
Prosecutor Kim Bryson told the court that McAleer had attempted to develop trust with the girl to make it easier for him to procure sexual activity.
“The defendant engaged in daily communication via Instagram, the context of these communications were initially general,” she said.
“ … He then commenced expressing his feelings towards her. He told her that he loved her, he discussed the possibility of the two living together and acknowledged that any relationship they would have together would be an unconventional relationship because it would be frowned upon by society.
“He referred to the complainant as his soulmate and sought to normalise their relationship based on the connection that he said the two of them had.”
McAleer pleaded guilty to one count of using a carriage service to groom a child under 16.
He was sentenced to 18 months jail, with an immediate release on a good behaviour bond, along with two years of probation.
BRENT MCKEE – MACKAY
Brent Sean McKee was jailed last year for molesting seven boys while working as a music teacher.
The Mackay District Court heard how McKee inappropriately touched the boys, aged eight to 12, between January and December 2020 at Sarina.
Crown Prosecutor Matthew Sutton said McKee had “used his position as a schoolteacher” to commit the “heinous acts upon schoolchildren”.
When police searched McKee’s home, they uncovered images of young boys engaged in sex acts with men.
McKee pleaded guilty to 15 counts of indecent treatment of children and one count of possessing child exploitation material.
He was sentenced to two years and 10 months in jail, with release after nine months in custody, along with two years of probation.
A mother of one of McKee’s victims said she was in disbelief over the sentence.
“I was thinking, no I’ve heard this wrong,” she said.
She said the offending had “affected (her son’s) entire life in that he struggles to trust teachers.”
“I don’t want to tell my son because this has been two years (and) we felt that this was time to put it behind us.”
ANDREW OGILVIE – BRISBANE
Primary school teacher Andrew George Ogilvie was jailed in June for stalking and masturbating in front of school students.
The former Bellmere State School PE teacher offended against a number of female students from multiple Moreton Bay schools from late 2021 to early 2022.
The Brisbane District Court heard how Ogilvie had masturbated in his car in front of two girls on separate occasions, one of whom he had first gestured to come closer.
He had also followed multiple girls in his car as they walked to and from school, causing the girls to feel scared.
Judge Paul Smith said the offending was “predatory, protracted and directed at female children”.
Ogilvie pleaded guilty to three counts of stalking, one of indecent treatment of a child under 16 by exposure and one of performing an indecent act in a public place.
He was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in jail, suspended after he serves eight months in actual custody, along with two years probation.
VILIAMI PAKI – MACKAY
Viliami Teukava Fakavamo Paki was working as an unqualified teacher’s aide when he digitally raped a girl over two months.
The former Mackay Cutters player’s football career had been cut short after a hamstring injury, the Mackay District Court heard.
He then met his young victim after securing the teacher’s aide position at a Mackay school through his involvement with his club.
A jury found Paki guilty of four counts of rape, but not guilty of one count of indecent treatment.
Judge Michael Byrne said “based on immaturity on (Paki’s) part, (Paki) gained some ideation on this girl.”
“It may be that you misread those signals … (the) jury accepted you digitally penetrated her on four occasions.”
Paki was sentenced to four years jail, to be suspended after two years in actual custody.
BRADLEY SIMPSON – MACKAY
Former Mackay teacher Bradley Hunter Simpson sexually abused 15 teenagers over nearly two decades.
The Mackay District Court heard how the “well respected” teacher used his position of trust, along with cigarettes, alcohol and cannabis to facilitate his offending.
Simpson faced court last October for offending against his fourteenth and fifteenth victims.
The court heard he had already spent 13 years behind bars for what he did to his previous victims.
Simpson had been sentenced for 12 years jail in 2005 for more than 70 child sex offences between January 1986 and December 2003 including sodomy, indecent treatment, sexual assault, and maintaining relationships.
He was then sentenced to two-and-a-half years jail in 2022 for maintaining a sexual relationship with his thirteenth victim in 1984.
Last October, Simpson pleaded guilty to additional charges of maintaining a sexual relationship with a child, two counts of sodomy, and five counts of indecent treatment of a child under 16.
He was sentenced to five years jail, suspended after 12 months in actual custody.
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Originally published as LIST: Dirty teachers of Queensland Courts exposed
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