Loophole for teacher jailed for abusing 10yo

A former NSW teacher who pleaded guilty to a historical sexual offence relating to a 10-year-old student is expected to have her conviction quashed due to a legal technicality, a court has been told

In December 2022, a District Court judge described how Gaye Grant “abused her position of authority” as a “respected” teacher at an Illawarra region school by engaging in sexual acts with a student in the 1970s.

After she pleaded guilty to the historical charge of “maintaining an unlawful relationship with a child” she was ordered to serve a maximum of six years and nine months in jail.

In his sentencing remarks, Judge Andrew Haesler said that over a “period of over two years” Grant “sexually abused one of her students”.

Her three-year and four-month non-parole period was not due to expire until April 2026, but she was last month granted bail by the state’s highest court, the Court of Criminal Appeal, pending an appeal to have her charges quashed.

She is launching an appeal due to the legal precedent set in the case of Helga Lam, another teacher who earlier this year had historical sexual charges dropped following a successful legal challenge.

Ms Lam was facing 15 counts of indecent assault relating to four teenagers in the 1970s.

She was never found guilty of any offence and maintained her innocence.

And the Court of Criminal Appeal declared the charges void because she was charged under legislation that was in place in 1978.

A three-judge panel found that the laws did not apply to “conduct committed by a female upon a male”.

On Wednesday, Grant appeared before the Court of Criminal Appeal where her barrister Steve Boland argued that her conviction ought to be quashed.

He asked the court to enter an acquittal and argued that her plea should not “operate legally as a confession”.

The court was previously told that the Crown prosecution had accepted that Grant’s appeal was “more likely” than not to succeed.

Grant was jailed for maintaining an unlawful sexual relationship with the child – who cannot be identified – over a two-year period.

At the time, she was considered by her students to be the “cool” teacher, and her abuse of the boy began when he was 10 years old.

A court had previously been told the now-adult complainant went to police in 2021 and Grant was covertly recorded making a confession in which she said: “I am very sorry for anything I ever did, you know I’m very sorry.”

“She abused her position of authority as a respected schoolteacher who had control over the lives of her pupils,” Judge Haesler said in his sentencing remarks.

Grant, now in her late 70s, remained silent as she exited the Court of Criminal Appeal on Wednesday.

Crown prosecutor Guy Newton SC did not make submissions to the court on Wednesday.

The court was told that the three-judge panel of Justices Natalie Adams, David Davies and Sarah McNaughton would hand down their decision at a later date.