Former NSW teacher wins right to work with kids despite previous charges involving child abuse material

A former male educator and lawyer who was previously charged with four counts of possession of vile child abuse material will be allowed to work with children after a ruling by the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal.

A former male educator and lawyer who was previously charged with four accounts of possession of vile child abuse material will be allowed to work with children.

A former male educator and lawyer who was previously charged with four counts of possession of vile child abuse material will be allowed to work with children, the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal has found.

The man was the subject of a prohibition notice issued by the NSW Department of Education in December 2023, which banned him from providing education and care to children.

But on May 5, that notice was lifted by the tribunal after he was not deemed to be an “unacceptable risk” to children.

Tribunal documents state that when the man was 18, in 2004, he joined Yahoo chat groups where he was sent child abuse material including 30 still images and a video.

The sickening file names of the illicit material included “hot boy”, “cute boy” and “2 cute little boys having fun”.

The former teacher was also sent 800 images of children in underwear and swimwear that were downloaded onto his computer.

The tribunal heard the man, who also briefly worked as a solicitor, was told by the Legal Practitioners Board that he failed to disclose that he downloaded the images of the boys in swimwear.

The former teacher who had previously downloaded child abuse material was not deemed an “unacceptable risk” to children.

The man stated that the images of boys went “below the line” of what was acceptable.

The documents said the man had worked with children for a “considerable time as a teacher” in schools, as a volunteer in Australian Air Force Cadets (AAFC) and with the Duke of Edinburgh.

In 2012, the man began teaching in a NSW school and later disclosed to a school leader that he had child abuse material on his personal computer.

The former educator’s disclosure led to the termination of his employment with the school. The tribunal heard police became involved and, in April 2013, he was charged with four counts of possession of child abuse material.

The documents stated that in 2013, the charges were dropped by police on the grounds of the man’s mental health issues, which included psychiatric evaluations and other expert opinions.

The tribunal heard that between 2013 to 2016, the man then completed a law degree and worked as a solicitor for two years.

“He made a disclosure of the 2013 charges (possession of child abuse material). Following a meeting of the Disclosure Committee he was admitted as a lawyer by the NSW Legal Profession Admission Board in May 2017,” the findings stated.

Between 2019 and 2020, the former educator began working as a teacher in a primary school on a casual employment contract.

At the start of 2020, he also applied for a Queensland “Blue Card” which is similar to a working with children clearance in NSW.

His application was refused.

The man began working in schools in 2012 and later enrolled into a Certificate III in Early Education and care in 2023.

The tribunal heard that in mid-2020, the man was notified that he had been placed on the “Not To Be Employed List” by the NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) for two years.

However, in 2023, the man enrolled in a Certificate III in Early Education and Care.

As part of the course, he undertook a placement at an early learning centre but was asked to leave on his first day after the centre was tipped off about his previous conduct.

The tribunal findings, which drew its conclusions on expert evidence such as psychiatric assessments, stated it did “not consider the man to be an unacceptable risk of harm” to a child or children if he was allowed to remain on the education and care service premises.

The tribunal stated that to “prohibit” the man from working in education and care service premises would be “punitive”.

“As such, the correct and preferable decision is for the prohibition notice to be cancelled.

“It would be based not on an assessment of real and appreciable current and future risk to children but because as an 18-year-old … he downloaded child abuse material and or because he has or has had in the past a mental health illness.”

A NSW Early Childhood Education and Care Regulatory Authority spokeswoman said the authority was “disappointed” with the tribunal’s decision to overturn the prohibition notice.

“We continue to hold concerns that the person may pose an unacceptable risk of harm to children,” she said.

“As soon as we became aware of the concerns, we took decisive action to prohibit the person from working in early childhood education and care in NSW, which would have also prohibited them being employed anywhere else in the sector across the country.”

A NESA spokeswoman said the authority had suspended the man’s accreditation in 2021, a decision which was overturned in NCAT.

“NESA also appealed this decision,” she said.

A spokesman for the Office of the Children’s Guardian said the authority had “no comment” to make on the tribunal decision.

Originally published as Former NSW teacher wins right to work with kids despite previous charges involving child abuse material