Qld PE teacher banned for life after having sex with student, 17

Queensland teacher receives lifetime classroom ban after tribunal finds he had sex with vulnerable teen student and sent explicit photos.

The teacher accused of twice having sex with a student sent her more than 2300 text messages. File picture

A Queensland high school physical education teacher has been banned from ever returning to the classroom for having sex twice with his teen student after sending her unsolicited dick pics.

In their decision handed down on July 18, Queensland Civil and Administrative members Sasanka Munasinghe, Steven Holzberger and Richard English slapped the 26-year-old man with an indefinite ban from teaching.

The tribunal noted that when he was confronted by education department investigators with the claims he had sex with his student, who he met in his Certificate III fitness class between 2019 and 2020, he lied and denied the claims.

The tribunal found he had sexual intercourse with his then 17-year-old student at least twice between November 27, 2019, and May 29, sent her a photograph of his penis and nude photographs of himself with sexualised commentary and kissed her in the school gym after school.

He was also found to have sent the student 2337 text messages.

She had been his student for five years and had family problems and was vulnerable, the decision states.

Another student told the department investigator that the teacher sent her several Snapchat messages after 10pm, including pictures of him lying shirtless in bed with the sheets up to his chest.

A second student said she had received Snapchat messages from the teacher after 10pm while he was in bed. Stock photo

The teacher’s ex-partner told investigators that he “confessed to her that he had pleasured himself to a Facebook photograph of a former student” at the school.

She said she confronted him after discovering he had searched Facebook for young girls, especially girls from the school where he was teaching.

His identity, and that of his female student and the school has been suppressed by the tribunal.

The tribunal ruled that the ban “discourages other teachers” from having sex with their students and “protects future students from predation”.

The tribunal accepted that the teacher had sex with the teen, based on what she told Queensland police.

“Her disclosures are not inherently implausible, and she had no motive to lie,” the tribunal noted.

“He lied to (education department) investigators about the true nature of his relationship” with the teen, the tribunal concluded.

The teacher did not “meaningfully participate” in the misconduct investigation against him.

He was found to have shown no remorse and shown no evidence that he has changed his ways.

“(He) plainly has a sexual interest in students,” the tribunal wrote.

When first confronted by education department investigators, the teacher denied giving his mobile number to the student so they could text outside the classroom.

But after pausing the interview to speak to his union representative, he admitted to giving the teen his number in 2019 before the Christmas holidays and exchanging text messages about her mental health.

He later “confessed to sending” the teen girl sexually explicit text messages and admitted sending her a text message telling her he wanted to have sex with her.

He admitted engaging in “dirty talk”, but denied sending dick pics, having sex with her or seeing her outside school.

Originally published as Qld PE teacher banned for life after having sex with student, 17