Sicko Swan Hill PE teacher Ben Kelly jailed for repeated sex with former student
A sicko Swan Hill PE teacher who repeatedly had sex with a 14-year-old female student leaving his victim in despair issued a warning to her friend not to say anything or he would hold her “responsible” for what happened next.
Mildura
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A former Swan Hill College teacher who had sex with an underage student in various places including on the bonnet of his car has been jailed.
Ben Kelly, 41, was sentenced in the County Court on Friday 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 and his victim “splashed” each other while sharing the canoe.
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 dropped her off at a bus stop the next day.
The victim’s parents had searched for their daughter after being “concerned” about her disappearance.
Kelly and his victim also had sex by Lake Boga on a mattress brought specifically by the paedo teacher.
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 KFC.
Another time Kelly’s car got bogged and the RACV was called.
The RACV employee later recalled Kelly was with the victim at the time.
The lewd offending continued until the girl turned 16 and Kelly moved to Sea Lake with his new partner and began teaching at Tyrell College.
In 2005, the victim told a friend what had happened.
Kelly learned about this so he threatened the friend via text.
Kelly told the friend he would “hold her responsible” if the victim “killed herself”.
The friend’s dad 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.
Despite this Kelly kept seeing his victim until he moved to Darwin in 2008 for a new teaching role.
The victim reported Kelly to police in late-2018.
The pair then had a “pretext” phone conversation where the victim got Kelly to admit he knew she was underage.
The victim told Kelly she was on 14 at the time to which the creep replied “I can’t change that now” and “I wish I could”.
Police raided Kelly’s Broome home and seized his mobile phone in 2019.
The former Ballarat University teaching graduate gave a “no comment” interview.
The court was told Kelly was now contributing to his community and had been involved in charitable work with Indonesian orphanages.
The victim, who tearfully read her victim impact statement to the court at last month’s plea, said she had been “emotionally ripped apart” by Kelly.
“(My) trust was betrayed without ever realising it,” she said.
“I thought all I was good for was sex.”
Judge Chris Ryan said Kelly’s actions took place over 18 months and were pre-planned and persistent.
Mr Ryan said Kelly took steps to avoid detection and the 10-year age disparity created an imbalance of power on top of his duties as a teacher.
“I regard your conduct as a serious example of offending of this kind,” Mr Ryan said.
Kelly – who had spent 14 days in custody – was jailed for a maximum of five years.
He was made a registered sex offender for life.
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