Qld teacher who walked in on girls changing handed $200 good behaviour bond

A Queensland teacher who repeatedly walked in on girls while changing, flicked or rubbed their bra straps has been removed from the registry of teachers, a tribunal has heard.

A Qld teacher who repeatedly walked in on girls while changing and admitted to kissing two teenagers has been removed from registry of teachers.

A Queensland teacher who repeatedly walked in on girls while changing, flicked or rubbed their bra straps, and moved his hand under her shirt and up her back, has been removed from the register of teachers, a tribunal has heard.

The 64-year-old, whose identity is suppressed by the tribunal, admitted he kissed two of the teenagers on the forehead after giving them a shoulder massage.

He walked from court on a $200 good behaviour bond in October 2021 when he pleaded guilty to one charge of observations in breach of privacy and five charges of common assault.

No conviction was recorded.

He was named and photographed in media reports of his case.

In a decision handed down on November 8, Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal member Michael Howe ruled that it was not necessary to determine whether disciplinary action should be taken against the teacher.

This was because the teacher had his name removed from the register kept by the state’s College of Teachers on 3 December last year for non-payment of registration fees.

The observing in breach of privacy charge related to him walking into the classroom while

Year 7 and Year 8 girls were changing.

One assault related to him flicking or rubbing the girl’s bra strap, and said to that girl when she hugged him, ‘We can’t do that in front of other teachers’, which made the girls realise that it was inappropriate.

In another incident he started massaging a Year 8 girl’s shoulders for about 15 seconds. She squirmed and said, ‘Can you not, I don’t like people touching my neck’, the decision states.

He also started massaging a Year 7 girl’s shoulders then moved his left hand towards her neck and moved under her shirt on her shoulder and moved her bra strap.

He put his hand under a Year 7 girl’s polo shirt and up her back to her bra strap to her neck and that lasted about five seconds. The teacher then kissed both of these two girls on their foreheads.
After he moved to a different school he ran his hand from the side of the girl’s neck down her shoulder, again causing her to feel uncomfortable.

On another day, the teacher touched the girl’s back and softly moved his hand from the top of her neck down to her tailbone area, according to the sentencing Magistrate’s summary of the prosecution as a schedule of facts, quoted in the tribunal decision.

The tribunal decision states that the teacher had undergone 14 sessions with a clinical psychologist since his suspension in 2021.

Originally published as Qld teacher who walked in on girls changing handed $200 good behaviour bond