A driving instructor has "by the barest of margins" avoided being sent to jail for repeatedly indecently touching 10 young females, most of them schoolgirls, while he was teaching them to drive.
Gregory John Clark, 59, pleaded guilty midway through his trial in the Perth Magistrates Court earlier this year to 49 charges of indecent and unlawful assault.
By that time, the court had already heard the evidence of four victims who described Clark persistently touching their leg, often their upper thigh, with his hand lingering there for seconds.
Clark then admitted assaulting the remaining six complainants, with the court hearing on Friday they were only aged 16 or 17 at the time.
On some occasions Clark made inappropriate comments to the victims, including saying to one "if you don't calm down I will spank you" and telling another she looked "beautiful".
The court heard some of the victims had repeated lessons with Clark, but they said they felt they could not stop seeing him because they felt they could not speak up and just wanted to get their driver's licence.
'Overly enthusiastic' actions, lawyer says
Clark represented himself at the trial, but on Friday he had a lawyer, Aaron Plenderleith, who submitted that his client's actions were "misguided" and an "overly enthusiastic attempt" to be friendly.
"Ultimately he is sorry for putting these girls in the position where they felt violated," Mr Plenderleith told the court.
Prosecutor David Robinson submitted the offences were so serious, only an immediate jail term was appropriate.
Mr Robinson said the assaults were a breach of trust and committed on young women who, because of their youth and the fact they were driving a car, were incapable of removing themselves.
Clark insisted his actions were not sexually motivated, but Magistrate Belinda Coleman rejected that claim, saying she was in doubt they were.
"Your actions, although overt, were, for want of a better word, sneaky," she said
Two-year sentence suspended
Ms Coleman noted that one of the victims said she had endured the touching because she just wanted to get her licence.
"You were a much older man in a position of trust and you breached the trust of those young ladies on multiple occasions," the magistrate told Clark.
She accepted that before committing the offences, Clark was of good character, and that he had contributed to society through his job and volunteer work.
Ms Coleman said a jail term was appropriate, but "by the barest of margins" she had decided to suspend the sentence.
She imposed a two-year suspended term and ruled that Clark be subject to conditions so that he could "take steps to address" the reasons why he offended.
Clark was also ordered to pay $1,393 in court costs.
Clark was only charged with the offences against the 10 victims after publicity about his conviction in 2019 for indecently assaulting a 16-year-old girl during five lessons.
He was fined $8,000 for that offence, which the magistrate ordered be paid to the victim.
