CONTENT WARNING: This article discusses child sexual abuse.
Former teacher Michael Anthony Lunn has been convicted of years of predatory child sexual abuse in a judgement handed down on Wednesday afternoon.
Lunn, a former teacher at Vaucluse Public School, was accused of over a dozen charges relating to eight boys and girls in the 1980s, as reported by the Sydney Morning Herald.
Facing a judge-alone trial in the NSW District Court, he has been convicted of three counts of sexual assault of a child and 10 counts of indecent assault, carrying maximum penalties of up to 10 years behind bars.
Judge Paul McGuire described the offending as deliberate and unlawful with unequivocal sexual connotations, per the publication.
As reported by the Sydney Morning Herald, the Crown alleged that Lunn used his standing within the school community to target children during routine classroom activities, often involving them sitting on his lap or standing near him.
However, his lawyers argued he was a victim of “rumours and scuttlebutt” and contaminated student recollections.
Lunn had faced trial in the 1980s over similar allegations, the court heard. These ended in not guilty and directed verdicts, one hung jury, and no further proceedings.
In a police interview after his arrest in 2022, Lunn denied the sexual nature of the interactions, stating there were “no sneaky little things”.
He said there may have been times when he stuck his hand in a child’s pants, claiming it was to tuck in their uniforms.
In her final submissions at Lunn’s judge-alone trial, Crown prosecutor Sara Gul said Lunn knew “children liked him, he knew that children wanted to be around him”, per the Sydney Morning Herald.
“The almost cult-like image that he cultivated and projected was a facade of opportunistic, deliberate and serial sexual abuse of these children,” she said.
Among the allegations, Lunn was accused of fondling of genitals, kissing, and on one occasion putting his penis against a boy’s mouth. One man said Lunn repeatedly tried to push his pyjama pants down under a sleeping bag at a school camp.
Complainants testified that they felt frightened, confused, and embarrassed at the time, not wanting to distress their parents or feeling as though they had no one to turn to.
Judge McGuire, who described the complainants as intelligent and honest, did not accept they had fabricated their evidence due to a financial motive or collective vengeance against Lunn.
Lunn has been taken into custody. He is now awaiting sentencing, which is set for June 20.
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