Former Chairo Christian College teacher Matthew Kelaart falsely accused of sexting schoolgirl

A former Chairo Christian College teacher falsely accused of sexting a schoolgirl is allowed to return to the classroom after a tribunal found allegations levelled against him to be “improbable”.

A deeply religious teacher who formerly worked at a Victorian Christian college has been falsely accused of sexting a 16-year-old girl. Picture: Getty Images

A deeply religious teacher who formerly worked at a Victorian Christian school has been falsely accused of sexting a 16-year-old schoolgirl, VCAT has ruled.

Matthew Kelaart, a former PE and religion teacher at Chairo Christian College, described the past five years of fighting to clear his name “a nightmare”.

In May 2020, he was accused of asking a female student from his school questions on Snapchat about whether she was a virgin, if touched herself, had a “fit body” and if she would “have sex with a 30-year-old”.

Mr Kelaart has always maintained his innocence, supported by a lack of evidence showing he sent the messages to the girl. He says photos of him allegedly sent to her were obtained from Facebook, and were not sent by him.

A two-person Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) review panel said it was “improbable that Mr Kelaart at about 8:10am on a school morning would be Snapchating anybody pursuing sex”.

The teacher was accused of asking a schoolgirl sexual questions using Snapchat. Picture: file image

The VCAT judgment, handed down last month, concluded that it was possible Mr Kelaart was in morning devotional prayers at the time he was accused of sending the texts.

The Victorian Institute of Teaching (VIT), which deregistered Mr Kelaart as a teacher in 2023, has been ordered to register him again by VCAT.

The VCAT members concluded that it was improbable Mr Kelaart would pose in his school PE top identifying him as a teacher, that he had no particular knowledge of the student and had no motivation to contact her, or any 16-year-old seeking sex.

They did not find the students who made the claims fabricated the allegations but said it was a possibility given that they did not give evidence before VCAT.

The student accuser, who was not asked to give evidence by the VIT was said to be “over it” by the time of the VCAT hearing.

Victoria Police laid charges against Mr Kelaart in 2022 but withdrew them a few months later due to a lack of evidence. In 2024 a police digital forensic analyst concluded that there was no persuasive evidence to show he was using Snapchat on the morning of 27 May 2020 and no evidence of messages between him and the student.

The VCAT ruling, from deputy president Ian Proctor and member Paul Gysslink noted that Mr Kelaart was “a person of deep Christian faith, committed to fidelity in marriage”.

The members noted that they had “never heard from such impressive character witnesses both in writing and at the hearing”.

The ruling quoted one witness describing the terrible impact the accusations had on Mr Kelaart: “He lost his job, left his community to move to Queensland for a fresh start and is unable to teach to the detriment of him and his family”.

However, he has pursued re-registration because “teaching is a large part of who he is and what he is dedicated to”.

The VIT relied on an external investigation commissioned by the school which concluded that on the balance of probabilities Mr Kelaart had engaged in sexual misconduct.

However, the VCAT review did not give any weight to this report, which used an incorrect evidence test, and had findings that were questioned by the police.

The VIT’s own investigator warned that the report could lead to a VCAT review and a finding against the VIT. However, at a council meeting in April 2023, the VIT decided to reject their investigator’s recommendation and unanimously decide to issue a notice of intention to refuse registration to Mr Kelaart.

The VIT said it had reinstated Mr Kelaart’s registration.

Mr Kelaart has been approached for comment.