A former trainee teacher has been found guilty of sexually abusing, grooming and indecently assaulting a Canberra schoolboy.
The woman cried as a jury representative read out the verdicts on Friday.
An almost two-week ACT Supreme Court trial revolved around a "relationship" between her and the student said to have started when she was 24 and he was 15.
The victim said the pair grew so close they were a couple and the prosecution argued the woman was calculated in her cultivation of a romantic and sexual relationship.
"We always said, if we see anyone we know, just keep walking," he told police.
"We didn't want anyone to see."
But the woman, who cannot be named due to suppression orders, repeatedly denied the allegations and claimed it had never been more than an innocent friendship.
Less than a day after jurors retired, she was found guilty of persistent sexual abuse of a child, supplying pornographic material to a young person, grooming and committing an act of indecency on a child.
She was found not guilty of separate grooming and committing an act of indecency on a child charges.
While prosecutor Emilija Beljic asked the court to revoke the woman's bail following the mixed bag of verdicts, Acting Justice John Burns continued her conditional release.
Meeting and post-school communication
The now-28-year-old woman met the boy in late 2020 when she worked as a pre-service teacher for three weeks at his school.
The court heard she never directly taught the victim but it was said she started hanging around his group of friends at lunch, walked him to classes, and that he often flirted with her.
This was reportedly being noticed by other teachers.
"Prac teachers aren't supposed to spend one-on-one time with students and are not meant to be alone with students," the prosecutor said in her opening address.
But the woman denied many of the boy's claims and ever being anything but professional towards him.
The prosecution case was that their relationship began after she left and the boy reached out to the woman via social media, where the pair talked frequently.
The woman's evidence was that "40 or so boys" sent her friend requests on social media, including the victim, but that she denied them all.
She said she only started speaking to the student when he anonymously called her and she helped him with a school assignment.
"Do you think you were going above and beyond what was necessary to assist a former student?" Ms Beljic asked in cross-examination.
The woman responded: "No."
She denied eventually indecently assaulting the 15-year-old boy twice. Once in a David Jones change room and another time in a car.
She was found guilty of the former.
Gifts and money
The woman accepted as the pair grew closer she frequently gave him lifts, bought him gifts and transferred him money.
She agreed having purchased him certain gifts, like designer clothes, but denied ever buying the victim vapes or alcohol.
The prosecution argued she engaged in this conduct to make it more likely the minor would commit or take part in a sexual act, and therefore constituted grooming. The jury agreed.
"She was providing things to him only an adult could provide to a child. That creates a distortion and an imbalance," Ms Beljic said during her closing address.
The woman "injected" herself into his life to the point where he "couldn't live without her", jurors were told.
During his evidence, the victim said: "She was kind of, did what I asked if I asked nice enough."
The court also heard the student's brother had seen "stacks of cash" gifted by the woman.
During his closing address, defence barrister Sam Pararajasingham said: "[The schoolboy] was able to obtain material benefits from [the accused woman]."
"She would buy him, on his own account, whatever he wanted and send money whenever he needed it."
The barrister said the woman dropping everything to pick the boy up at times was "mildly sad" but it reflected an earnestness.
While the prosecution alleged the woman was calculated and sophisticated in making the student depend on her, the defence argued it was in fact the boy who controlled the situation.
Explicit videos, a 'reasonable belief' and lies
The woman admitted sending numerous explicit videos and photos of herself to the victim, but claimed only doing so when he turned 16.
She also admitted sending "revealing ... cleavage" images of herself when he was 15 but she claims having a "reasonable belief" he was 16 years old, being the age of consent.
"That provides her a defence," her barrister told jurors at the start of the trial.
The student admitted in turn he lied to the woman about his age and school grade.
In the witness box, the woman claimed she felt pressured to send the videos of herself because the victim was "very pushy and forceful".
But the prosecutor told jurors: "All of this is fostered by an adult that [the victim] said entertained it."
"How is an adult feeling pressured by a kid to send videos?"
The teenager also admitted sharing the explicit files against the woman's wishes and lying to friends by telling them the pair had sex, "just to say that I'd done it with a teacher".
"Back then it was just a cool thing to say to your mates," he told police.
Mr Pararajasingham said: "He overstated, exaggerated the nature of the relationship."
Prosecutors alleged the woman asked for explicit photos in return, constituting another grooming charge. She denied ever doing so and the jury found her not guilty of this count.
The case is set to return next week for mention and to find a sentence date.
- Support is available for those who may be distressed. Phone Lifeline 13 11 14; Canberra Rape Crisis Centre 6247 2525; Bravehearts 1800 272 831; Blue Knot Foundation 1300 657 380.
