Benjamin Wayne Holding: Wangaratta High School teacher arrested after sexual assault investigation

A teacher has been stood down after being charged with sexual assault and assault against three alleged victims.

A former country schoolteacher will face court later this year after an investigation into alleged sex offences.

Benjamin Wayne Holding, 27, a former digital technology teacher at Wangaratta High School, was last week formally suspended from teaching by the teaching regulator, the Victorian Institute of Teaching following a police investigation into alleged sex offences.

Wangaratta High School. Picture: Supplied

A Victoria Police spokesman confirmed the arrest.

“Detectives from Wangaratta Sexual Offences and Child Abuse Investigation Team have charged a 27-year-old Wangaratta man with sexual assault by touching, common law assault and unlawful assault against three separate victims,” the spokesman said.

“The alleged incidents occurred in the Wangaratta area between January 2020 and May 2021.”

Precise details of the alleged offending are yet to be aired publicly.

Holding, originally from Beechworth, began teaching at Wangaratta High School at the start of the 2020 school year following his graduation from La Trobe University.

Wangaratta High School. Picture: Supplied

In an interview with the school newsletter before his suspension, he said he “stayed positive as a teacher” by “remind(ing) myself of the positive impact I have as a teacher”.

He listed his hobbies as reading fantasy novels, gaming and archery.

Holding is yet to enter pleas to the charges and has been bailed to appear before the Wangaratta Magistrates’ Court for a mention in July.