Teacher jailed for student sex

A former teacher has been jailed for two years six months for having sex with students.

The woman in her 30s, who cannot be named, repeatedly took two young teenagers out of a Marlborough school at lunchtimes to have sex in her car last year.

At her sentencing at the Blenheim District Court yesterday she apologised for having sex with students, saying her offending had hurt the boys, the school and the wider community.

Her ongoing struggle with serious mental health issues was partly to blame, and home detention would be best for rehabilitation, her lawyers said.

But Judge Tony Zohrab said the woman, employed as a wellness co-ordinator at the school, had ‘‘seriously compromised her obligations’’ in a role where parents trusted her with their children.

Judge Zohrab sentenced the woman to two years and six months’ imprisonment. She would also be automatically added to the sex offender register.

‘‘Given your professional training and experience as a teacher, no-one should have been more attuned to the needs of young boys as they turn into men, as they try to develop a sense of self,’’ Judge Zohrab said.

‘‘Being a teenager is difficult enough without this sort of thing occurring in their lives.’’

He also refused final name suppression, saying the effect on her family and her own mental health did not meet the high threshold of ‘‘extreme hardship’’ required for final name suppression. However, the woman’s lawyers said they would appeal the decision.

The woman was employed at the school for about 12 years, and was head of languages before her resignation earlier this year.

While working at the school, she had formed sexual relationships with ‘‘a number of students’’, who tended to be from more vulnerable families, and were usually involved in sport, the police summary of facts said.

She met one student at an extra-curricular activity, and started text messaging him, asking if he needed a ride and how sport was going, and about her life.

They messaged each other every day.

The woman took him out of school at lunchtime and sometimes after school on several occasions, having sex with him in the back seat of the car, at several car parks around Blenheim.

One boy said through his victim impact statement read in court he had worried about the teacher, because she had threatened to hurt herself if he ended their relationship.

On one occasion she even locked herself in the car with a pair of scissors, he said.

The other boy said he was ‘‘confused and ashamed’’.

‘‘Being a teenager is difficult enough without this sort of thing occurring in their lives.’’

Judge Tony Zohrab