A teacher has admitted six charges of sexually abusing a teenage student at the regional West Australian school where she worked, but denied a further 10 counts.
The woman was aged in her 30s a decade ago when she was a physical education teacher at the school, where the girl was a student.
The abuse is alleged to have happened at various locations including the woman's home, in her car, on a school camp and during a "country week" carnival in Perth.
The ABC has not named the accused woman to protect the identity of the complainant.
State prosecutor Elisabeth Noonan said the girl "as a matter of law" was not capable of giving her consent to what happened because she was "under the care, supervision or authority" of the teacher.
The court was told the evidence in the case would include a note written by the accused in which she said, "If I could sing you a song it would be Butterfly by Crazy Town".
Ms Noonan said the lyrics of the song included lines such as "you make me go crazy", which it was alleged was a reference to the sexual relationship the accused had with the girl.
Risk no deterrent
It was also alleged that on one occasion, on a school trip, the door of the room they were in was ajar when a sexual act was committed.
Ms Noonan said that was an indication that the accused may have felt confident to sexually offend even while other people were nearby, and there was an obvious risk of them being discovered.
"Because she knew (the complainant) would not cry out," Ms Noonan said.
While the accused has admitted six offences, she is standing trial on the remaining 10 charges.
Her lawyer Seamus Rafferty said his client's actions had not been premeditated, and the development of the relationship had been "very, very sudden".
School trip denial
He said it was the first time the woman had ever engaged in a same-sex relationship, and while she knew she was not allowed to act on her attraction to the girl while she was at school, she had, even though it was not planned.
He maintained none of the sex acts happened during school trips, saying "there was no way" his client would engage in that kind of behaviour on a school-related event.
The court was told that after the girl left school, she and his client had continued what he called "an open relationship" for years.
Mr Rafferty said the jury should focus on the credibility of the complainant, noting that she had only gone to police after his client had planned on "outing herself" as being attracted to the same sex.
Complainant struggled with family issues
In her evidence, the complainant, who is now aged in her 20s, said in the years before the abuse, she had several conversations with the teacher because she was struggling with some family issues.
She said for the first time in a while, she had "felt heard".
"I felt that I was being cared for and listened to," she told the court.
The witness said they then spent a lot of time together and talked a lot mainly because the accused would drive her to sports training and games.
"My mother was comfortable with the accused taking me … because she was a teacher," the complainant testified.
She said their first suggestion of sexualised behaviour happened the next year on a sports trip, but afterwards she rang the teacher and apologised because as a student she "knew the position [she] had put them in".
She said she received a text message back which read: "I don't regret it."
The complainant told the court in the following weeks, the two then had a sexual encounter at the accused woman's home, saying "she had never had any sexual relations with anyone before".
"I feel like from that moment we engaged in sexual activity whenever we could … at least once or twice a week at least," she said.
"I remember it happening every chance that we could," the complainant told the court.
The trial is due to end later this week.
