Former Bendigo Senior Secondary School drama teacher Kirsten Thomas found guilty by jury of raping student
A Bendigo drama teacher’s “blackest of lies” has been exposed after a jury found her guilty of raping a student in the early 2000s.
A Bendigo drama teacher’s “blackest of lies” has been exposed after a jury found her guilty of raping a student in the early 2000s.
The 47-year-old former Bendigo Senior Secondary College drama teacher pleaded not guilty to raping a student in her home after a school-related celebration at a venue on Hargreaves St, claiming the victim and an eye witness were never in her home.
But after almost six hours of deliberations, a jury of 12 delivered on Wednesday afternoon a unanimous verdict of guilty on both charges of indecent assault and rape.
Defence barrister Veronika Drago requested Thomas – who is now a convicted rapist – remain on bail ahead of a plea hearing scheduled for Friday.
DPP prosecutor David Cordy opposed bail, saying it was “inevitable” that Thomas would be incarcerated.
Judge Michael McInerney said Thomas had no prior convictions and came before the court with a good character – both before and after the crimes she was just convicted of – and found that bail should be continued until Friday.
He said it was unlikely that Ms Thomas would “head off to Greece” before Friday’s hearing.
Thomas runs the Bendigo dance school Thomas School of Dance with her sister.
Tuesday, September 30, 2025
Deliberations have begun in the trail of a Bendigo teacher facing historical allegations of raping a student, with jurors tasked with determining which one of them is lying.
Former Bendigo Senior Secondary College drama teacher Kirsten Thomas, 47, pleaded not guilty to raping a student in her home after a night out at a venue on Hargreaves St in the 2000s – arguing that the student was never there.
Judge Michael McInerney told the jurors when they sat down at 10:13am on the sixth day of the trial that they had come to the “penultimate matter” – his direction to them and their ultimate deliberations.
The jury of 13 was balloted down to 12, with one woman excused.
The remaining jurors now face the unenviable task of determining the facts in the case and coming to a unanimous decision.
It could take an hour, a week, or even several – jury deliberations have no time limit.
The jurors heard two opposing narratives throughout the trial, intertwined by facts and falsehoods like two serpents locked in a deathly struggle.
Because somebody is lying, and now it’s up to the jury to figure out who.
The defence says it is the complainant and a number of witnesses who fabricated the whole story.
The defence did not – and is not required to – explain why the students may have lied.
The prosecution say Ms Thomas’ is the one who told the “blackest of lies” when she took the stand to defend herself.
Judge McInerney told the jurors Ms Thomas was presumed innocent unless the jury found that the prosecution had proven the allegations against her beyond reasonable doubt – meaning that there is no other reasonable explanation other than that the accused is guilty.
The parties agree that the students and Ms Thomas were at a venue together, but Ms Thomas denies that the complainant and another student attended her house that night, and therefore no sexual assault happened.
DPP prosecutor Cordy argued that it was “fanciful” that a group of students would conspire to lie about Ms Thomas, and the complainant was telling the truth.
Defence barrister Veronika Drago pointed to what she described as an inadequate police investigation and inconsistencies in evidence – saying there wasn’t enough proof to make out the charges.
The burden of proof is on the prosecution and Ms Thomas has to prove nothing, Judge McInerney said.
He gave the jurors a “Liberato” direction, meaning that the presumption of innocence was reiterated after the jury heard conflicting evidence between the complainant’s and accused’s statements in the witness box.
The direction means that even if jurors don’t accept what Ms Thomas said on the stand, it doesn’t automatically mean she is guilty – they must set it aside and can only convict if they are satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that the prosecution proved their case.
Judge McInerney told the jurors that they represented “one of the most important institutions in our community”.
“You stand between the accused and the prosecution,” he said.
“You (jurors) are the judges of the facts in this case and it is for you and you alone … to decide if Ms Thomas is guilty.”
Monday, September 29, 2025
The final battle in the trial of a Bendigo teacher accused of raping a student has played out before a jury, with the prosecution alleging “Kirsten Thomas is an out and out liar” – while the defence argue she is “innocent” of the charges.
The 47-year-old former Bendigo Senior Secondary College drama teacher pleaded not guilty to raping a student in her home after a night out at a venue on Hargreaves St in the 2000s.
She denies that the complainant and another student went back to her house following a school-related celebration, saying the complainant’s story was a “complete fabrication”.
DPP prosecutor David Cordy said the defence argument that it was all a “big fat lie” was itself “the blackest of lies”.
He said the claim that two students, or possibly even four, who gave evidence corroborating the complainant’s story had gotten together nearly 20 years later and conspired to destroy a former teacher was “fanciful and imaginary”.
Mr Cordy asked the jury why the complainant would lie about a teacher who she liked and respected, even considering her enough of a “good friend” to confide in her about being bisexual.
Ms Thomas knew the complainant was bisexual, she found her attractive and when she found the complainant passed out drunk in her bed “she tried it on”, Mr Cordy told the jury.
“She’s guilty”, Mr Cordy said.
He said the defence claims that the accused looked the jurors in the eyes and lied was a “fanciful and unrealistic suggestion”.
“Here is a young woman doing her level best to recall a difficult thing that happened to her … doing her best to tell you the truth,” he said.
In contrast Mr Cordy alleged that Ms Thomas “told you a lot of untruthful things, a lot of lies” after getting into the witness box and trying to distance herself from her alleged relationship with the complainant.
Mr Cordy asked the jurors to consider how the complainant could have drawn a layout of Ms Thomas’ house if she had never been there, saying “Kirsten Thomas is an out and out liar”.
Mr Cordy explained that the complainant had not reported the alleged assault for well over a decade because she was scared no one would believe her because it was an allegedly female on female sexual assault – but had reported it to three of her friends “immediately”.
Mr Cordy said the complainant had lived through the alleged assault, so her memory should be the one the jury trusted, and argued the jury should disregard a number of inconsistencies in the evidence given by her friends.
In response, defence barrister Veronika Drago accused the prosecution of “cherry picking” the evidence.
She said “Kirsten Thomas sits there an innocent woman” and the jury must acquit if they had any doubt about the allegations, highlighting a number of inconsistencies in witness testimony.
Ms Drago said the complainant got the location of where Ms Thomas’ house was wrong, and the description of the layout and interior of the house by the complainant and the other student witness was also wrong “because they were not there”.
She said the most telling aspect of the alleged eyewitness’ testimony was when she could not identify the spare room she allegedly stayed in when she was shown a photo of it.
Ms Drago said there was evidence that the complainant had gone to a house party with other theatre studies students after leaving the venue – instead of going back to Ms Thomas’ house – which she said the complainant could not refute.
Ms Drago slammed the police investigation for not being thorough enough, drilling down on the fact that police did not confirm with the alleged eye witness’ parents that she had prearranged to stay over at Ms Thomas’ house.
Ms Drago finished by saying that Ms Thomas did not have to prove why the former students “may be lying”.
“How can she?” Ms Drago said.
She said the jury could not be satisfied there was enough evidence to convict Ms Thomas.
Jury deliberations are expected to begin on Tuesday after Judge Michael McInerney gives his directions.
Thursday, September 25, 2025
A student allegedly became “quite close friends” with a Bendigo drama teacher, even confiding in her about her sexuality, before the teacher allegedly raped her following a school celebration, a jury has heard.
On Thursday, Kirsten Louise Thomas, 47, took the stand again after pleading not guilty to raping a student in her home after a night out at a venue on Hargreaves St in the 2000s.
DPP prosecutor David Cordy said the complainant became close with Ms Thomas in the course of the Bendigo Senior Secondary College school year and the two would talk about matters that “weren’t strictly curriculum related”.
The complainant alleged that she confided in Ms Thomas when she came to the realisation that she was bisexual.
“You were the first adult she came out to,” Mr Cordy put to Ms Thomas.
Ms Thomas claimed the conversations never occurred.
Mr Cordy asked Ms Thomas if she found the teenage student “attractive” while she was teaching her.
After Ms Thomas said “no” Mr Cordy paused and turned to the jury, allowing the answer to hang in the air for a few seconds.
The complainant and another student both alleged they walked back to Ms Thomas’ car on View St and the accused drove them to her house after the gathering.
Ms Thomas said they were lying and she had in fact gone back to her car alone, which was parked on Barnard St, providing a detailed account of her movements on the night.
Mr Cordy asked the accused teacher about subsequent school celebrations she attended in the more than 17 years she taught at BSSC, which Ms Tomas could not provide details about.
Mr Cordy said that it was strange that Ms Thomas had such a clear recollections of that night more than a decade ago, but she couldn’t recall details about other school related nights out.
Mr Cordy showed Ms Thomas a sketched floor plan of her home made by the complainant.
He said it was a “pretty good representation of the layout of your house” for a person who she said had never been inside.
Ms Thomas disagreed and said the two students never went back to her house that night.
The jury previously heard that after Ms Thomas allegedly assaulted the teen who had passed out, drunk, in her bed, she ran into the spare room where the other student was sleeping.
The eyewitness told the jury the complainant had sat down on the bed and told her that Ms Thomas had sexually assaulted her.
The defence argued the two teenage students couldn’t have been sitting on a bed, because there was no bed in the room – showing a photo allegedly taken by Ms Thomas in 2006 that depicted only a couch.
But Mr Cordy revealed that the couch was also a fold out bed that was made up with sheets, ready to accommodate an overnight guest.
He asked Ms Thomas if she was suggesting that the testimony of both the complainant and the student witness who both said they had attended her home that night was totally made up.
Ms Thomas said it was a “complete fabrication”.
Closing arguments are expected to begin on Monday.
Wednesday, September 24, 2025
A Bendigo drama teacher accused of raping a student has taken the stand on day three of her trial where she denied the charges levelled against her.
Asked on Wednesday if she sexually assaulted a Bendigo Senior Secondary student in her home after a night out at a venue on Hargreaves St in the 2000s, Kirsten Louise Thomas, 47, said “no”.
Ms Thomas told the jury that she left the venue and drove home – alone – while the complainant and another student allege they went back to Ms Thomas’ house.
The jury was shown the recorded police interview where the accused made no comment to lead investigator detective Senior Constable Kylie Chisholm, who was then called to give evidence.
Defence barrister Veronika Drago tore into the 37-year veteran detective about her handling of the investigation, accusing her of not being thorough enough in pursuing every possible avenue.
The drama teacher denied having the complainant back to her house and also denied that another student had prearranged to stay the night at Ms Thomas’ house.
Ms Drago said the detective’s decision not to interview the parents of the witness who claimed to have prearranged to stay at Ms Tomas’ house had “deprived” the jury of a key piece of evidence: whether or not they were aware of the alleged arrangement to stay at Ms Thomas’ house – which is in contention.
Sen Constable Chisholm said the evidence from the multiple witnesses who corroborated the complainant’s story in their testimony to the jury was sufficient and the investigation was sound.
The jury heard from two more of those witnesses – “good friends” of the complainant that she allegedly confided in about the assault.
One of the witnesses told the jury he picked her up from Ms Thomas’ home and brought her back to a place in Ironbark he was house-sitting.
He said the complainant was “visibly upset” and “you could tell something awful happened”.
Another friend from BSSC that Ms Thomas also taught, who was waiting back at the house, also gave evidence, telling the jury that the complainant was “crying” and “really upset” when she arrived and told her what had allegedly happened.
She said the complainant told her she was concerned no one would believe her about the alleged assault because she had been at the teacher’s house, which would imply “she was OK with what happened, that she was consenting”.
The defence highlighted alleged inconsistencies in the witness’ testimonies, seizing upon a key detail in the friend’s evidence which had changed.
The jury was told that the witness had previously given evidence that the complainant told her she woke up to Ms Thomas “going down on her”.
The defence claimed the allegation of oral sex was completely different to what other witness had said in the police case – that Ms Thomas allegedly groped her genitalia and penetrated her with her finger.
The witness said she had made the assumption that oral sex was involved because she didn’t really understand the logistics of a female on female sexual assault.
“The wording might be different, the intent is not different from where I was sitting,” she said.
“I think that it was a choice of phrase I meant synonymously with sex of some description.”
Ms Thomas’s evidence will continue on Thursday when she will be cross examined by DPP prosecutor David Cordy.
Tuesday, September 23, 2025
Standing trial for the alleged rape of a student across the road from where she used to teach, a former Bendigo Senior Secondary College drama teacher accused two former students of conspiring to create a web of lies against her.
Kirsten Louise Thomas, 47, pleaded not guilty to raping a student in her home after a night out at a venue on Hargreaves St in the 2000s.
Tuesday saw the complainant tell the jury her account of what happened on the night of the alleged assault, followed by evidence from another student who also allegedly went back to Ms Thomas’ two bedroom house.
The witness told the jury she remembered going back to Ms Thomas’ home alongside the complainant where the three watched videos of performances from Ms Thomas’ well-known dance school – Thomas School of Dance.
When they went to bed, the witness said that she went to the spare room while the complainant was put up in Ms Thomas’ bedroom.
The witness said she remembered being woken by the “really distraught” complainant who told her she had been sexually assaulted by Ms Thomas.
But in a shocking twist, Ms Thomas’ barrister Veronika Drago accused the witness, and the complainant, of making the entire story up.
Ms Thomas claims it didn’t happen because no students went back to her house that night.
Ms Drago highlighted inconsistencies between the two student’s evidence, most sensationally when she handed a photo of what the defence claimed was a picture of the spare room the witness alleges she slept in that night.
The witness told the jury that the complainant came in and sat down on the bed she was laying in and told her about the alleged assault.
But the defence claimed there was no bed in the room.
“You are mistaken about that detail because you never went back to Ms Thomas’ house that night,” Ms Drago said.
“You never left the pub with Ms Thomas that night.
“You have never slept at her house ever.”
The witness, who said she had stayed at Ms Thomas’ home on two previous occasions and had prearranged to stay there again that night, disagreed with the defence claims.
The complainant did not report the alleged assault to her parents, police, or the school until more than a decade later, the jury heard, which both the prosecution and defence indicated would be a source of contention over the complainant’s credibility.
In September 2022 the complainant read a news article that prompted her to report the historical allegations to former BSSC principal Dale Pearce, who gave evidence in the trial, in turn reported her allegations to Bendigo sex crime detectives.
Ms Thomas taught as a drama teacher at BSSC until July 2023 – when she was stood down by Mr Pearce on instructions from the Education Department as the investigation heated up.
Another teacher who worked with Ms Thomas at BSSC around the time of the alleged assault, who now works at Girton Grammar in Bendigo, also gave evidence before the jury.
She said she remembered attending the same gathering that the two students and Ms Thomas were present at.
She recalled dropping off another teacher after the event, who was not Ms Thomas, and somebody who could have been the complainant.
She was about to clarify why she thought the third person wasn’t the complainant, but was cut off mid-sentence by Ms Drago.
When re-examination by DPP prosecutor David Cordy, the Bendigo teacher said the third person could have been anyone.
The trial continues on Wednesday.
Monday, September 22, 2025
A former Bendigo drama teacher will argue that the student who accused her of rape is lying, a jury has heard.
Kirsten Louise Thomas, 47, faced a jury of 13 in the Bendigo County Court on Monday after pleading not guilty to historic charges of indecent assault and the rape of a student following a night out at a venue on Hargreaves St in the 2000s.
The complainant became “intoxicated” and alongside a friend allegedly went back to Ms Thomas’ house at the teacher’s invitation where the complainant alleges she was sexually assaulted and raped by Ms Thomas after falling asleep.
The Eaglehawk woman taught drama at Bendigo Senior Secondary College until July 2023 and was also principal partner of Thomas School of Dance, the jury was told.
Ms Thomas taught the complainant, who thought she was a “good teacher” and “considered her a friend”, DPP prosecutor David Cordy said.
“She felt that the accused seemed to care about her and they discussed friendships, relationships and family,” he said.
Mr Cordy told the jury that the complainant went back to Ms Thomas’ house after the night out because she didn’t want to go home to conservative parents who would be disapproving of her intoxication.
The complainant alleges she woke up to Ms Thomas sexually assaulting her in the bed.
She alleged that Ms Thomas asked “if she was too tired” – to which she replied “yes”.
The complainant alleges that Ms Thomas then stopped touching her vagina, but kept stroking her stomach.
The complainant alleges she lay there until the accused fell asleep before going to her friend who was sleeping in another room telling her that Ms Thomas “tried to have sex with her”.
While “upset and crying” she allegedly told her friend that Ms Thomas “she touched me down there”, and “touched me inside”.
She told a total of three friends within about 24 hours of the alleged assault after leaving Ms Thomas’ house, all of whom will be cross examined by Ms Thomas’ barrister Veronika Drago.
Ms Drago told the jury Ms Thomas was, until proven otherwise, an “innocent woman and a teacher of 17-odd years”.
She said Ms Thomas denied the charges and the defence will argue that “nothing happened”.
She said “every story has two sides” and asked the jury to “keep an open mind”.
Mr Cordy said the jury would have to decide if the alleged assault occurred, if it was in “indecent circumstances”, and if Ms Thomas knew that the complainant was not consenting, or thought that she “might not be” consenting.
The jury would also have to decide if Ms Thomas “raped (the complainant) by intentionally sexually penetrating” her vagina with a finger and if Ms Thomas knew that the complainant was not or “might not” have been consenting, Mr Cordy said.
Ms Drago said the jury would have to find if the complainant’s allegations were “believable or not”, “reliable”, “consistent” and if there were any “indicators” of her allegations being “untrue”.
She said the trial was about “proof and evidence” with “no room for assumption or speculation”.
The complainant is expected to give evidence on Tuesday.
Ms Thomas remains on bail.
