Fresh claim against infamous teacher who raped 12-year-old boy

A classmate of the boy who was raped by a 34-year-old mother-of-four has made a bombshell new claim against the disgraced teacher.

The child-rapist teacher who raped and then later married her 12-year-old student caused three decades of trauma for her victim’s classmates, it has been claimed.

Mary Kay Letourneau was a 34-year-old mother of four when she was convicted of sexually abusing Vili Fualaau, a Year 6 student.

Mr Fualaau was just 13 when Letourneau gave birth to their first child, Audrey.

She welcomed their second daughter Georgia while serving jail time for the sexual abuse.

After her release, the pair tied the knot in 2005.

Their highly controversial relationship made headlines around the world right up until Letourneau’s death from cancer in July 2020. She was 58.

But her shocking crime has had a lasting effect, with a former student from Mr Fualaau’s class stating the sexual abuse “traumatised” the other students, with the scars remaining nearly three decades later.

Mary Kay Letourneau was 34 when she raped 12-year-old Vili Fualaau. They later married and had two daughters, Audrey and Georgia. Picture: Supplied

“It f**ked me up for a long time,” Caitlin Steed, who was a 12-year-old at Shorewood Elementary School in 1996, told the New York Post.

“She was a mother figure for us because she was so nurturing. And then we had to process all of this really when we’re just learning what sex is all about.

“I think a lot of us ended up in counselling. She literally messed up an entire class of sixth-graders.”

Letourneau was first caught sexually abusing Mr Fualaau in a mini-van when he was just 12. She was swiftly arrested after the inappropriate relationship came to light and later pleaded guilty to two counts of felony second-degree rape of a child in 1997, resulting in a seven year prison sentence.

Now a classmate of Mr Fualaau has claimed the abuse ‘traumatised’ his classmates for decades. Picture: Handout

After serving a jail sentence, the pair – with a 22 year age-gap – married in 2005. Picture: Entertainment Tonight

Despite this, Letourneau said she “did not know” she was committing was a crime and insisted the pair “were in love”.

“I didn’t make him do anything. If anything, he was wanting it. He was pushing for it. We were in love. How can it be a crime?’ I had to repeat many times in many different ways why it’s a crime,” she claimed during an interview with Channel 7’s Sunday Night in 2018.

Letourneau and Mr Fualaau married in 2005.

In 2017, he filed for separation however withdrew the request. He said he had thought about leaving the relationship but Letourneau said she was still madly in love with her husband.

The couple eventually split in 2019, but Mr Fualaau was by his estranged wife’s side when she lost her cancer battle.

The abuse made headlines around the world. Picture: People

The school teacher claimed she had no idea their relationship was a crime. Picture: Photo/The Seattle/Times, Betty/Udesen

Letourneau died in July 2020 with her husband – who was separated from her – by her side. Picture: Supplied

Ms Steed, who is now 41, said that the complex and confusing nature of their former teacher’s relationship with their classmate really took its toll.

“What people didn’t get is that we were sad,” she told the New York Post.

“We were trying to make sense of it, and we missed our teacher.”

Now 41, Fualaau rarely speaks about his infamous wife, and went on to welcome a third daughter named Sophia two years after Letourneau died, according to People.

The couple’s younger daughter, Georgia, had a baby in September 2023, making him a grandfather at the age of just 40.

Audrey is also reportedly currently pregnant.