Paul Edward Grealy jailed for abuse of student he married, Sarah Kopp

The teacher had a sexual relationship with his 15-year-old student and married her. A victims’ ­advocate predicts more women who have been in these situations will gain the confidence to come forward.

Sarah Kopp and Paul Grealy two decades ago.

A Queensland teacher has been jailed for the abuse of a student he later married, with a victims’ ­advocate predicting more women will come forward against other teachers as they gain confidence in receiving community support.

Paul Edward Grealy was convicted in May for maintaining a sexual relationship with 15-year-old Sarah Kopp in Hervey Bay in 2000 and 2001.

He was her physical education teacher at Urangan State High, and after she finished school they went on to marry and have two children before divorcing.

The case can only be fully ­reported now after Ms Kopp told The Weekend Australian she was willing to be identified to protect other children and raise awareness about grooming.

Queensland Sexual Assault Network executive officer Angela Lynch said publicity around former Sydney physical education teacher Chris Dawson’s abuse of a teenage student in the 1980s and the work of campaigners such as Grace Tame were driving assault survivors to come forward.

Grealy’s case follows the prosecution and conviction of rugby league star Dawson for unlawful sex with a teenage girl he subsequently married and had a child with, brought to international ­attention through The Teacher’s Pet podcast.

Chris Dawson, centre, is escorted by NSW Police detectives off a plane at Sydney airport as he is extradited from the Gold Coast following his arrest in December 2018.

“The Chris Dawson case ­obviously highlighted that issue in the public eye for a long period of time,” Ms Lynch said. “That helps victims of sexual violence to make sense of what happened to them – and then perhaps just feel more confident that they have been wronged, and more confident that now the community is going to support their positions if they make a public statement.”

Ms Kopp went to police in 2018 and reported that the sexual relationship started when she was in Year 10, about six months before she reached the state’s legal age of consent of 16.

Grealy was convicted in the District Court in Brisbane in May and sentenced to 2½ years’ jail.

The relationship had been devastating and was “not as un­common as people think, unfortunately”, Ms Kopp said.

“I want people to have a full understanding of those types of relationships that start when children are 14, 15, 16, so that ­people can understand the true ­effects of those things and how damaging they are,” she said.

Sarah Kopp and Paul Grealy at Brisbane’s Goodwill Games in 2001, when Sarah was 16 and Grealy was 32 Picture: Supplied

Now 55, Grealy was a teacher at Brisbane’s Ambrose Treacy College, a Catholic school for boys, when he was arrested in May 2020.

Ms Lynch said it was “not surprising that those relationships would be highly controlling and coercive relationships, because that’s what it was built on”.

Sexual assault victims commonly went public “to stop him from doing it to other people, or raise the issue, make it known that this is a crime, and help other women who might be in that situation”, she said.

The Dawson case and survivors such as Ms Tame helped the public recognise grooming and to gain a more nuanced understanding of consent.

“You just couldn’t have consent when you’ve got a student and a teacher,” she said. “Those kind of things constantly in the media do help to ­reduce the shame and stigma ­associated with being a victim of sexual violence.

Angela Lynch, executive officer with the Queensland Sexual Assault Network, says there can’t be consent between a student and teacher. Picture: Steve Pohlner

Sarah Kopp was groomed into a sexual relationship with her physical education teacher as a 15-year-old. Picture: Jenni Collier

“It’s the power of the media, of seeing those things and normalising it – (showing) this has happened to other people, this isn’t just my experience. I would expect that as we become more comfortable in talking about it, that people will come forward more.”

NSW Police declined to comment on whether it had since ­observed a rise in complaints from former students against teachers.

“The NSW Police supports and encourages victims of childhood abuse to contact police and report the matter,” a spokeswoman said.

“NSW Police have facilities in place to make reports face-to-face, or through an online portal. Reporting via the portal does not commence a police investigation but it does empower victims to take that first step and record their assault. Victims can choose if they wish to report the assault anonymously or have police follow up in certain circumstances.”