A former teacher will spend at least seven years in jail for sexually exploiting three girls he taught in Adelaide in the 1980s.
He blamed the abuse on trouble finding permanent work as a teacher, but a judge instead said it was his sexual gratification and self-interest that led to the crimes.
Anthony Rex Virgo, 59, pleaded guilty in South Australia's District Court to three counts of maintaining an unlawful sexual relationship with a child.
The victims were aged 15 and 16 at the time, when he was aged between 23 and 25.
The offences ended in 1988, before Virgo gained permanency as a teacher in the outback town of Woomera in 1990.
Judge Ian Press said any link between being on a contract and the offending was "tenuous".
He said, like many other adults, Virgo put his own need for emotional support above the interests of his victims, all the while exploiting the power imbalance between them.
He said teachers must be discouraged from "enticing and encouraging children to engage in sexualised conduct".
"There is always a danger that the impacts of offending such as yours will reverberate for a significant period of time in the life of the victim," Judge Press said.
"The courts must do what they can to protect children from such conduct by deterring others from engaging in it.
"The need to deter others and to protect the community by deterring others is a significant aspect of sentencing for such crimes."
Taking into account Virgo's commitment to teaching over three decades, his volunteer work and the unlikelihood he would reoffend, Judge Press fixed a head sentence of 11 years and one month, with a non-parole period of seven years and two months.
Virgo lost his job at Hamilton Secondary College, where he had been teaching since 2000, and his teacher registration was cancelled.
