Former teacher Caroline McDougall admits sexually abusing boy in her car after 23 years
A FEMALE teacher who molested a student got away with her sordid crime for more than two decades — even after a complaint was made to her school.
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EXCLUSIVE: A female teacher who molested a student got away with her sordid crime for more than two decades even after a complaint was made to her school.
Caroline McDougall, 61, said she was lonely and depressed when she pounced on the 15-year-old boy, kissing him then fondling his penis while in her car in 1992.
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The then 34-year-old music teacher had formed a close friendship with the boy while at Deer Park Secondary College.
She said they bonded when he confided in her that he had been abused by another female teacher at the school.
McDougall later said she had regarded the boy as “sexual beyond his years”.
“He was such an impressive person … he seemed like an adult,” she said.
The boy left the school shortly after the attack and later disclosed it to his mother who complained to a school principal in the early 1990s.
McDougall admitted inappropriate behaviour and was sent on long service leave on “compassionate grounds”.
In July of that year, a month after the Victorian government introduced mandatory reporting for teachers who suspected child abuse, the school’s principal wrote to the Department of Education.
It is unclear if a report was made to police at that time.
It wasn’t until 23 years later, in 2016, that McDougall was arrested and charged with more than a dozen offences against the boy.
She ultimately pleaded guilty to a single count of an indecent act with a child under 16.
The Victorian County Court heard this week McDougall didn’t teach again after the allegations first surfaced in the early 1990s.
Instead she completed further study and established a successful counselling business where she continues to work.
She now faced the prospect of being deregistered by one of two regulatory bodies governing counsellors but, technically, that would not preclude her carrying out her work.
The court heard McDougall had a troubled life marred with abuse, tragedy, failed relationships and ill health.
Her lawyer, David Sexton, said rather than being a sexual predator, McDougall had made a “catastrophic error of judgment”.
Mr Sexton said McDougall has spent 26 years since the offending with a sense of “shame, remorse and self-loathing”.
He has called for the court to impose a wholly suspended term of imprisonment. Prosecutors have not opposed the submission.
McDougall, who is on bail, will be sentenced next week.