Why do some teachers cross the line with their students?

THEY are entrusted with educating our kids, but some teachers have committed the ultimate betrayal. What really happens when teachers start relationships with their students?

NOVEMBER 4, 2004: Melbourne teacher Karen Ellis (C) leaves the Victorian County Court with her husband Stephen Ellis (R) and...

TEACHERS are entrusted to educate, develop and protect children.

There are countless wonderful teachers who have a lasting positive effect on their students.

But on rare occasions, there are teachers who cross the line, and form relationships with their pupils.

How can this happen?

Some, like former Australian tennis coach Gavin Hopper and physical education teacher Karen Ellis, begin affairs with pupils that span several years.

But the impact on the child may not be fully realised until years after the relationship ends.

Melbourne psychologist Michael Carr-Gregg says the child - who is in reality the victim of a sexual offence - can suffer lasting consequences.

“They can often develop depression and anxiety, and inflict self harm, especially when the relationship ends or is discovered,” Dr Carr-Gregg says.

Sexual gratification is an obvious driving factor in why some teachers prey on students, Dr Carr-Gregg says.

The evolution of social media offers teachers and students more chances to contact each other privately and push relationships forward.

Some use the affection to bolster themselves during times of crisis.

“Some teachers who have sex with their students could be going through a relationship crisis, perhaps an impending divorce,” Dr Carr-Gregg says.

“They feel deflated and desolate inside, and a student crush is perceived as positive attention and they respond to the need for intimacy, instead of following the rules of society.”

Dr Carr-Gregg also says some teachers lack sexual maturity.

“A problem with some teachers who sleep with students, in my opinion, is that that they haven’t developed sexually in the same way as other adults,” he says.

“Inside they are still very young, even though on the outside they look very adult.”

Professional tennis coach Gavin Hopper was jailed for having a sexual relationship with a student.

Gavin Hopper

Former pro tennis coach Gavin Hopper was a sports teacher at the exclusive Wesley College when he engaged in a sexual affair with a female student during the 1980s.

Hopper, a physical education teacher, was in his late 20s and the girl was 14.

At his County Court trial, the former schoolgirl, by then aged 33, told the jury she began having sex with Hopper soon after her first tennis lesson as a year 9 student.

She said they regularly had sex in his school office, at his home and hers, at her grandmother’s house and in his car - until she graduated.

“I wanted to please him,” she told the court.

“We would have sex on the way to school.”

Hopper - former coach of tennis stars Monica Seles and Mark Philippoussis - denied the sexual activity.

A jury found him guilty of three counts of indecent assault and six counts of gross indecency.

Judge Graeme Crossley sentenced Hopper, 48, to 3 ½ years’ jail with a minimum of two years and three months.

“Your behaviour was a gross breach of trust of the entire Wesley College community as well as the parents and family of your young victim - and the victim herself,” the judge said.

Hopper unsuccessfully appealed against his conviction.

Karen Louise Ellis

Ellis was a physical education teacher at a northern suburbs high school when she hooked up with year 10 student Benjamin Dunbar in 2003.

Ellis, a married woman, pleaded guilty to having sex with the mature teenager six times at her home while her husband was away on business.

Ellis told police the pair were shooting hoops on the school’s basketball court when the teenage student declared: “If I get this in ... you can give me a kiss.”

A month later, the pair went to Ellis’s house, where they shared a meal and had sex.

Over the next six weeks, the pair used Ellis’s family home as a hideaway to have sex and talk.

Ellis told police she accepted she was in the wrong, but had not really considered the boy’s age.

Police said phone records showed Ellis text-messaged the boy 499 times over a three-month period, and received 123 voice messages from him.

In a statement, the former student said: “At no stage has this affected my life. If anything, I’ve gained.”

In November 2004, County Court judge John Smallwood handed Ellis, 37, a suspended 22-month jail term.

But in May 2005, three Court of Appeal judges found the term too lenient and declared she had to serve six months of a new 32-month sentence.

Ellis lost a High Court bid to have the sentence overturned.

Mark Andrew Hayes

A secondary college legal studies teacher, Hayes should have known better.

He had sex with a 15-year-old student he referred to as his “sexy horny schoolgirl”.

The consensual encounter took place at the home Hayes shared with his then pregnant girlfriend, who taught at the same school.

In tendered documents, the student said Hayes gave her his mobile phone number while they were on a school legal studies excursion to the Supreme and County Courts.

She said she sent Hayes the first SMS and the pair began to correspond.

In messages seized by police, Hayes referred to the teen as “babe” and told her she looked very “do-able” in class.

Another message read: “Smile. Uniform. Hint of cleavage.”

After they had sex, Hayes sent the girl a message suggesting further liaisons: “More time. Motel. Few drinks. Big bed. Spa. Would b nice.”

Hayes, 39, pleaded guilty to one count of sexual penetration of a child under 16 in his care.

In December 2006 he was sentenced to a years’ jail, six months of which was suspended.

“The act of sexual intercourse was the culmination of weeks of what can only be described as a courtship,” Judge Jennifer Coate said.

“What you have done shakes the foundation of our system of teaching young people.”

Natalina D’Addario

Like in other similar cases, this sexual relationship between teacher and student began with saucy text messages.

D’Addario, an Italian and English teacher at a northwest suburban school, ended up performing sex acts on a male student, aged 15.

She performed oral sex on the boy three times in her car.

The relationship began with text messages from her, like: “Hey sweetie, just wanted to let you know you have gorgeous eyes. Looking forward to seeing you tomorrow. xoxo. Natalie.”

In a tendered statement, the teenager said: “All my mates were telling me to go for it.”

He said after the first sex encounter he was “pretty happy” and his mates thought he was “a bit of a legend”.

But after the second liaison he started to change his mind.

“She kept texting and ringing me,” the teenager stated.

D’Addario, 37, pleaded guilty to a count of sexual penetration of a child under 16 and two counts of sexual penetration of a 16-year-old under her care or authority.

In July 2006 she was jailed for four months.

The rest of her 18-month term was suspended.

Travis Glenn Robertson

A sports teacher, Robertson was labelled a sex predator by a judge after admitting he had group sex with a student and her friend.

Robertson was a substitute physical education teacher at Templestowe College when he began the affair with the 15-year-old girl almost 15 years ago.

The year 10 student twice tried to end the relationship, but her teacher bombarded her with hundreds of phone calls and text messages.

On the last day of a school trip to Anzac Cove in Gallipoli, Robertson entered her room drunk and had sex with the girl and a former student.

“He told me it was my fault because I never looked at him as a teacher,” the victim said in a police statement.

Roberston pleaded guilty to multiple sex offences.

In jailing him for three years and seven months with a two-year minimum in August 2005, County Court judge Jim Duggan said: “Parents who send their children to school are entitled to expect that in that environment, at least, they will be protected from predatory sexual behaviour.”

Peter Donald Carne

A high school teacher, Carne had sex with two teenage students and filmed it.

The girls were aged 15 and 16.

An English and drama teacher at an eastern suburbs school, Carne was caught after photos depicting the naked trio were circulated around the school.

The County Court was told Carne - the school’s year 10 co-ordinator - began an affair with the older girl in 2002, shortly after his marriage of 20 years broke down.

The pair regularly had sex at his home and carried on the secret affair for 5 1/2 months.

The court heard Carne encouraged the girl to recruit her younger friend for a threesome, and took digital photos and webcam footage of the girls performing sexual acts.

Carne, 45, pleaded guilty to ten charges, including sexual penetration of a child under 16.

In February 2005, Judge Carolyn Douglas sentenced him to a maximum seven years’ jail with a minimum of five.

The father of three well knew what he was doing and his behaviour had undermined the public’s confidence in teachers, the judge said.

“Your conduct was not spontaneous. You deliberately encouraged each of (them) ... well knowing that they would be compliant.

“You were not only considerably older than the two of them, but you were a qualified teacher at the school each attended, with the authority that comes with that position.’’

Michelle Lynn Dennis

Ballarat music teacher Michelle Dennis engaged in sexual activity with two male teenagers and bombarded them with texts.

In 2007, Dennis, then aged 31, sent more than 1000 texts to one boy and more than 300 to the other.

The County Court heard she sent naked photos of herself to the older boy and asked his friend to join in a threesome, but the offer was refused.

Dennis picked up the older boy, a student aged 17, from his house and drove him to a local park where they had sex on the bonnet of her car, the court was told.

In the case of the younger boy, aged 14, Dennis drove him to her house where they drank alcohol and had oral sex.

In November 2009, Judge Susan Cohen said Dennis’s crimes were worse than those of Karen Ellis, because she had sex with more than one student.

Dennis pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual penetration of a child under her care or authority and one count of sexual penetration of a child under 16.

She was sentenced to four years and three months with a minimum term of two years and 10 months.

Dennis lodged an appeal against the length of her sentence, and it was reduced to three years with an 18-month minimum.

Nazira Rafei

This science teacher became infatuated with a 15-year-old student after they bonded over a mutual love of music, the County Court was told.

They met three times in 2008, including at the boy’s home during a teacher’s strike, and engaged in kissing and groping.

She called him more than 200 times in three months and wrote a love letter, declaring he had broken her heart into a million pieces.

Rafei had grown up in a strict Muslim family and had limited contact with members of the opposit sex, the court was told.

The 26 year old pleaded guilty to two counts of committing an indecent act with a child under 16 and was convicted of a third count.

During her trial, she denied the boy’s claims that she told him to treat her as a sex slave.

“This is a tragic affair from beginning to end,” Judge Liz Gaynor said.

Rafei, who was spared jail, was ordered to perform 150 hours of community work.

Andrew Charles Beaumont

This maths teacher, who had sex with a teenage student - including once in the cleaner’s cupboard - was a predator who took advantage of a besotted girl, a judge said.

Andrew Beaumont met his victim, 15, during a tutorial and developed a secret internet relationship with her.

Kissing in a gym washroom led to several sexual encounters - he had sex with her in his car, at her parents’ home and, finally, in the cleaner’s closet.

Beaumont, 31, pleaded guilty in the County Court in Geelong to nine charges including sexual penetration of a child under 16.

The court was told he exploited the teacher/student relationship for his own sexual gratification.

“Finding out the man I loved and lost my virginity to didn’t love me sickened me,” the girl wrote in a victim impact statement.

Judge Felicity Hampel sentenced Beaumont to at least three years’ jail.

“It is clear you knew she was infatuated with you,” Judge Hampel said.

“You embarked upon a deceitful course for nothing more than your own sexual gratification.’’

John Newton Hewitt

This former Brighton Grammar teacher avoided an immediate jail term for downloading hundreds of images of child pornography.

Federal Police agents searched John Hewitt’s home in December 2007 after a tip-off.

They uncovered 155 videos and 266 images of child pornography on a laptop computer and discs.

County Court judge Frank Gucciardo said having to view the images was distressing.

“They are disgusting, offensive and can only be described as evil,” Judge Gucciardo said.

Hewitt, 49, pleaded guilty to using a carriage service to access child pornography and possessing child pornography.

On the first charge, he was sentenced to 18 months’ jail, but was released on a $10,000 recognisance order to be of good behaviour for two years.

On the second charge he received a one-year jail term, suspended for two years.

He also agreed to pay $6000 to the Royal Children’s Hospital and be under the supervision of his psychologist for a year.

Hewitt taught history, politics and geography at Brighton Grammar and was due to start teaching at prestigious Scotch College when he was arrested.

Yolanda Lyons

This relief teacher had sex with a Year 9 girl, telling her their love was a “gift from God”.

Lyons, 58, was sentenced to three years’ jail, suspended for three years, for her conduct with the 14-year-old girl over a year in the 1980s.

In a victim impact statement tendered in court in May last year, the victim, by then aged 43, wrote: “You told me this was God’s love - no wonder I lost my faith.”

Judge Christopher Ryan said Lyons, then a fundamentalist Christian and a married mother of two, preyed on the vulnerable teenager by taking advantage of their shared religious beliefs.

“Your conduct was grave: it involved the manipulation of the complainant, who had been a victim of rape and had confided this,’’ he said.

“You breached the trust of the complainant who was a child in your care, her parents, your school community and the community at large.’’

Lyons pleaded guilty to two counts of indecent assault of a child and two of gross indecency against a child under her care.

David Barry Quinn

This Year 9 geography teacher at a Melbourne government secondary college had sex with an infatuated schoolgirl who sent him flirty text messages and told him she had a crush on him.

Quinn had a brief fling with the girl, 15, after initially rebuffing her advances.

In one SMS to him, the girl said: “If you ever just want to fool around ... I’m all for it.”

He replied: “It sounds very, very wrong but I do enjoy your company.”

They had sex at Quinn’s home and in the back seat of his car on four occasions between August 7 and September 4, in 2004.

The County Court heard the girl told police she was obsessed with Quinn and had been determined to forge a relationship with him.

She kept a diary chronicling the risks and plans.

A psychiatrist’s report concluded Quinn, 33, did not have a preference for younger women and was not a predator.

Quinn pleaded guilty to four counts of sexual penetration of a child under 16 under his care or authority.

In May 2008, he was sentenced to 34 months’ jail, with 16 months suspended.

“At the time she was a child nearly half your age and because of her infatuation with you ... she was no doubt extremely vulnerable,’’ Judge Frances Millane said.

Mark Robert Stratford

Stratford, a professional actor, was the director of drama at Lauriston Girls’ School when he used a hidden camera to film students undressing and changing into revealing outfits.

Aged 49, he selected girls from the school database and asked them to come to his office, where he had a camera hidden under his desk.

He had the girls change into “skimpy” dresses in front of the camera, the County Court was told.

Stratford pleaded guilty to producing child pornography, possessing child pornography and installing a surveillance device without consent.

“The circumstances of the offence of producing child pornography involved a gross breach of trust,” Judge Phillip Coish said in August 2010.

“The exploitation of children for sexual gratification is deplorable.”

The judge noted that Stratford, a father of four, had through his lawyer apologised to the school and the children involved.

Stratford was jailed for 21 months with a 14-month minimum term.