A former elite Sydney high school teacher accused of unlawful sexual activity with a student didn’t start a relationship with her until the girl actively pursued the teacher after she left the school, a court has heard.
The mathematics teacher, who cannot legally be named, is on trial at Downing centre court for allegedly forming a sexual relationship with a minor after she became their pupil in 1984. The teacher has pleaded not guilty to one charge of carnal knowledge.
In the fourth day of hearings, the jury was told that the teacher, who was about seven years older than the student at the time, was “constantly” contacted by the girl after a chance meeting when she was no longer their pupil.
The defendant does not dispute a relationship took place, but claims that the relationship began after the student was 17.
“I was a very young girl, you were my teacher, what was that about?” the complainant, who also cannot be named, asked the accused in a phone call that was recorded by police in 2022, and which was read out to court on Thursday.
“It’s never an easy thing to answer,” the accused answered.
“Were you concerned or worried? … I was putting you at risk as well, you being my teacher,” she asked.
“The feelings have never dissipated,” the accused replied. “They were genuine from day one, they are still genuine now.”
Crown prosecutor David Patch suggested “day one” referred to when she walked into the maths classroom and met her new teacher for the first time.
The accused disagreed, claiming those feelings began after a chance meeting at a shopping centre several months after the student left the school halfway through the school year. After that, the complainant made “constant calls” to the teacher at their family home, the accused claimed.
They agreed to meet at a local sports club, where the accused said they told her they did not want a relationship, did not want to be married and did not want children.
“I wanted to put a stop to it,” they said. “It was embarrassing.”
Several weeks later, she called the accused again. “It was kindly, gentle and pleading and it really touched my heart. I felt bad about what I’d said the previous week,” the accused said.
The accused said a romantic relationship began in early 1985. The couple went on to form a long-term relationship and separated in 2007.
Earlier on Thursday, the complainant’s brother told the court that he remembered a family discussion over dinner about his sister’s decision to leave school.
He said he and his parents were surprised and shocked at the news. The brother said that throughout the conversation, his sister mentioned her teacher and that they had “something to do with” her decision to leave.
“It was strange at the time, unusual,” he recalled.
She began confiding in her brother in 2014 but did not disclose the alleged sexual nature of their relationship while she was at school until 2021.
After she left the school, the teacher began visiting her home one to two times a week, the brother said.
He said he formed the opinion that they were in a relationship. They were affectionate, physically close and held hands, the brother recalled.
“Did you feel uncomfortable about that, given [the accused] was her teacher?” asked the prosecuting barrister.
“I did,” he said.
Within a couple of months of her leaving the school, the teacher was visiting the family home every day or every other day, he said.
The complainant had a boyfriend who stopped coming to her home “close to the time when we heard she was leaving school,” the brother said.
In the witness stand, the former boyfriend said he was “destroyed” by the complainant’s decision to break up with him in March 1984.
“The detail was clear to me … she had someone new, which was the teacher,” he said, visibly emotional.
The jury earlier heard from crown prosecutor David Patch the accused was sexually interested in the student from when they first met and almost immediately began grooming the complainant. That process involved dinner together and a trip to a national park, where the teacher allegedly had intercourse with the student.
The teacher and student are alleged to have had sexual intercourse about 10 times before August 1984. The accused denies this.
On Thursday, the accused denied ever taking the girl out for dinner or to the national park while she was a student.
The court heard the accused had never been convicted or charged with a criminal offence until their arrest in 2022.
