Victoria’s sex fiend teachers: Rinjana West, Timothy Richardson, Theodore Conos and Craig Liefting

Some of these vile teachers used their positions of trust to hunt, violate and degrade children. Here are some of Victoria’s worst.

Some of Victoria’s teachers who broke the law.

Your children should be safe when they go to school – and they mostly are – but unfortunately some sexual predators have infiltrated education fields.

Luckily, though, police and brave victims were around to banish these depraved fiends from classrooms for good.

PREDATOR IN THE HALLWAY

Former Dandenong High teacher Timothy Richardson.

Paedophile teacher Timothy Richardson, who was jailed for raping and indecently assaulting several boys, including a victim he violated “80-100” times, died barely four months into his prison term.

Richardson was 82 when sentenced in the County Court in April 2019 to a minimum of four years and nine months in prison.

Several of his victims and their families embraced each other outside court with one saying they were happy with the thought “Richardson will probably die in prison”.

Richardson, who died of a suspected heart attack four months into his jail term, was a teacher at Dandenong High while he molested the “underage boys” between 1963 and 1973.

Judge Paul Higham said Richardson would use his position as respected teacher to convince the students and their parents it was safe for them to stay at the farm.

“You (Richardson) would use persuasion or gentle coercion to get the boys to sleep in your bed,” Judge Higham said.

Richardson would begin talking to the boys about sex education and genitalia as a precursor to raping and sexually assaulting them.

A victim obtained permission from his mum to stay at the farm for a week in the knowledge he would be with other boys, but when he arrived found he was staying alone with Richardson.

He was persuaded by Richardson to stay in his bed because “it will be more comfortable”.

The victim said he complied because Richardson “was a teacher and I’m shy”.

Another victim said Richardson wanted to “demonstrate another way to have sex which won’t get a girl pregnant”.

One victim said: “(Richardson) was an adult and a teacher so he must be right”.

Richardson’s lawyer said any significant jail sentence would be a “death sentence” during a plea hearing held in February.

Judge Higham labelled Richardson’s offences as “sustained and predatory” against boys who were at a “vulnerable stage of emotional development”.

“Children and parents placed trust in you … you betrayed them,” Judge Higham said.

“(It was) deviant sexual gratification.

“Crimes against children are crimes against the community’s future.”

Richardson, who was found guilty of several counts of indecent assault and buggery, was sentenced to a maximum eight years’ jail.

MAZENOD TEACHER

Former Mazenod College teacher Catherine Young sexually violated two underage male students and taught a victim how to perform sexual acts but she avoided an immediate jail term.

Young was sentenced in the County Court in March to a three-year suspended jail term after pleading guilty to multiple sexual penetration of a child under 16 charges.

Young violated her victims while she taught at Mazenod’s Mulgrave campus under the name Catherine Waters in the mid to late 1990s.

The court heard Young taught Japanese, coached the junior volleyball team and supervised at school camps among other duties during her tenure.

Young violated the two male students at the school, at her Templestowe home, in the Monash University carpark and at a victim’s home.

The fiend former teacher, who left Mazenod in 1998, drove a victim to her Templestowe home where they engaged in sexual acts.

Young also visited a victim at his home during her lunch break where she sexually violated him.

The victim told Young to run out the back door after a family member unexpectedly returned home early.

Young later taught the victim how to place a condom on before having sex.

Young’s immediate jail term was wholly suspended for two years and she was declared a serious sexual offender.

DEVIANT MUSIC TEACHER

Predatory former Kew music teacher Theodore Conos violated three underage schoolgirls after grooming his victims for vile sexual acts.

Conos was originally sentenced in the County Court in February last year but his jail term was upped to a maximum 10 years with a minimum of seven years following an appeal.

Conos had sex with three 15 year old girls between December 2017 and September 2019.

The depraved fiend also attempted to groom an undercover cop posing as a 14-year-old girl.

Conos, using the screen name ‘SaxyTed’, was 25 when he hunted his first victim in a “Melbourne Teens Only” chat room via social media app Kik.

He then chatted with victim on Snapchat before meeting her in Fitzroy where he convinced her to have sex in his car.

Conos later sent the victim naked photos and videos of himself performing sex acts.

The pair had sex on another two occasions, the court heard.

Conos ignored her messages so she lied and told him she was pregnant, leading to him giving her $500 for an abortion and telling her to leave his name “out of it”.

Conos found his second victim on application Yubo after telling the victim he was 18.

The court heard he pressured her into sending an explicit photo of herself then met her at a Geelong park in December 2018.

The court was told the victim was resistant so Conos coerced her into having sex in his car.

Conos took her to play mini golf where he pushed the victim to her knees behind some bushes and forced her to perform oral sex.

He also held the victim’s head when she tried to pull away.

Conos found his third victim at a Kew bus stop in February 2019.

He repeatedly passed his victim before asking her for contact details.

Conos created a new Instagram account to groom the girl before admitting he was 26 and inviting the victim to his family home.

The court heard she felt pressured to perform a sex act on him.

Conos then sent her sexual videos and photos of himself while he was away on holiday, prompting her to send an explicit photo back.

The pair then met up repeatedly to have sex in his car when he would sometimes give her cannabis and magic mushrooms.

He was brought to justice due to a tireless investigation from Victoria Police and the Joint Anti-Child Exploitation Team.

PRIMARY SCHOOL SICKO

Craig Liefting.

Victorian primary school teacher Craig Liefting sexually assaulted two students and claimed one victim was a “willing participant”.

Liefting was sentenced in the County Court in May 2020 to a minimum three year and six month jail term after pleading guilty to three child sex charges.

Liefting’s victims were primary school students he taught in the past decade.

Liefting’s lewd acts on both victims occurred in a classroom and his office.

He assaulted a victim in front of other students, the court heard.

Liefting assaulted the other victim multiple times over a two-year period, the court heard.

He made the girl sit under his desk and commit lewd acts.

Liefting also offended against the girl — who said she felt “broken and used” — during a school-sanctioned event.

An education support worker witnessed Liefting at the school in a compromising position with a student in 2016.

Liefting was known to favour certain students, the court heard.

Liefting was teaching at Wonthaggi Primary School by the time he was under police investigation in late-2019.

Liefting was jailed for a maximum five years and six months and made a registered sex offender for life.

PE CHILD SEX FIEND

Former Swan Hill College teacher Ben Kelly had sex with an underage student in various places including on the bonnet of his car.

Kelly was sentenced in the County Court in October 2020 to a minimum three years’ jail after pleading guilty to maintain a sexual relationship with a child under 16.

Kelly was a PE teacher at the school when his offending against the 14-year-old victim commenced in September 2003.

The creep educator — who the court heard was “friendly” with his victim — shared a canoe with the student while on a school camp along the Murray River.

Kelly later texted his victim and the pair swapped lewd images and messages.

Kelly had sex with his victim on the bonnet of his car while she wore pyjamas after sneaking out of home late at night.

On another occasion the victim stayed over at Kelly’s home.

Kelly and his victim also had sex by Lake Boga on a mattress brought specifically for the act.

Kelly handed his victim a note during a class he was supervising.

“I want to f--- you,” the note said.

Kelly also had sex with the girl then drove her to her job at a fast food restaurant.

A local parent, who learned of the offending, contacted Kelly and ordered him to stop seeing the victim and leave Tyrell College or he would “deal with him”.

“The outcome won’t be very f****n pleasant,” the dad said.

The victim reported Kelly to police in late-2018.

Kelly was jailed for a maximum of five years and made a registered sex offender for life.

THE CREEP TEACHER

Rinjana West.

Former Berwick Secondary College teacher Rinjana West avoided jail for indecently assaulting a female student.

West was sentenced in the County Court in March 2019 to a nine-month suspended jail term after pleading guilty to committing an act of indecency on another person without their consent.

The indecent assault took place on a plane as West and his victim flew home from a school trip to Indonesia in 1999.

The frightened schoolgirl “froze” and was “unable to act”.

West only stopped his assault when his victim opened her eyes.

The indecent act on the plane followed other incidents during a 10-day school trip to Indonesia.

The court heard how West told the student to “wear whatever you want” to a dinner.

West, 26 at the time, placed his hand on the schoolgirl’s knee during this dinner.

Later, West called the girl and described sexual acts he could do if she came to his room.

West resigned from the school in 2016 after he was approached by police.

The man was also placed on the sexual offenders register for eight years.

MUSIC TEACHER’S VILE ACTS ON BOY

Wayne Robinson.

Former Wangaratta music teacher Wayne Robinson violated a boy and sexually assaulted several other students over a number of years.

Robinson was sentenced in the County Court in February 2020 after to a minimum seven year and 10 month jail term pleading guilty to 19 charges including sexual penetration of a child under 16 and committing an indecent act on a child under his care or supervision.

Robinson used his position as a popular and trusted teacher at Wangaratta music school Northern Rivers Academy of Music to groom and assault his underage male victims.

The vile predator violated one boy three times and sexually assaulted eight others over a 10-year period at the Academy, the Boorhaman North home he shared with his wife and two daughters and a holiday home.

He used the promise of music scholarships to groom some of his victims.

One victim – who was assaulted “10-20” times – said in an impact statement what happened would never go away “no matter how hard I try”.

Another victim, who was molested by Robinson on multiple occasions while they watched Star Wars movies together, said he was upset after being hit by his father.

His grandmother had also died at the time, his uncle was in a car accident and did not know Robinson’s actions were wrong until a later conversation with his mother.

Robinson was jailed for a maximum 11 years and six months.