The identity of a former trainee teacher who sexually abused and groomed a Canberra school student can now be revealed.
Petra Shasha was found guilty last week of sexually abusing and grooming the boy. However, she was not able to be identified due to court orders in place at the time.
Shasha and the name of the school can now be published after the ACT Supreme Court revoked non-publication orders on Tuesday, due to an application by the ABC.
Shasha's September 2024 ACT Supreme Court trial revolved around a "relationship" between her and the boy, who was a student at St Edmund's College. This was said to have started when she was 24 and he was 15.
The former teacher was named in reporting in 2022, but a gag order was later issued in the ACT Magistrates Court despite her name already being public.
The trial
Jurors heard the victim said he and Shasha grew so close they were a couple, and the prosecution argued the former teacher 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 Shasha 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.
The now-28-year-old woman met the boy in late 2020 when she worked as a pre-service teacher for three weeks at St Edmund's.
The court heard she never directly taught the victim but it was said she started hanging around his group of friends at lunch.
The prosecution case was that their relationship began after Shasha left and the boy reached out via social media, where the pair talked frequently.
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.
Shasha 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.
Shasha 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.
Sentencing is set to begin in February next year. Shasha remains on bail.
- 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.
