Kentish Express Ashford & District
‘I’m no monster’ teacher tells sex abuse trial jury
A teacher accused of grooming and repeatedly sexually assaulting a pupil has told a court: “I am not the monster”.
Carly Dear, a former Ashford women’s hockey captain, is accused of plying a girl with sweets, groping her in changing rooms and abusing a position of trust.
But the 46-year-old denies seven charges of historic sexual abuse while she was a serving PE teacher at Maidstone Grammar School for Girls.
She told Canterbury Crown Court: “It is a lie, it is sick and disgusting. I have had this for four years, that I have done something that I did not do.
“The allegations have taken my home, my teaching career, all for something I did not do.”
Dear, who also taught at Brockhill Park in Hythe and Rochester Grammar School, told prosecutors from the box: “I am not the monster”.
She also rebuked allegations she bribed the girl with £10,000 when she threatened to go to police.
Dear argued the money was to help her with a drug problem, exercise classes and help her rebuild her life after an unexpected financial issue.
She added the pupil made advances onto her after she went beyond the pale, listening to her problems, sending texts and offering lifts.
Asked if she had assaulted the girl inside her car, she added:
“No. There was one time, as she got out to leave she just leant across and kissed [me], it’s like she forgot I was the teacher and she was the student.
“I don’t know why she is making this complaint.”
But Gary Venturi, prosecuting, told jurors the accused handed the girl sweets, provided extra support, attacked her in changing rooms and intensified the abuse at Dear’s home in Whitstable.
Cross-examining, he told Dear: “Having started to take her home, there was touching over clothing, you started to become bolder, you started touching her under her clothing.”
“It didn’t happen,” Dear replied.
“She said to you if you don’t leave me alone I’m going to tell people,” Mr Venturi said.
“She didn’t say that,” responded Dear.
Mr Venturi highlighted a series of texts the pupil sent Dear after she turned 18, claiming her mental health had deteriorated. “I have done a lot of thinking and stressing and worrying about how things were and how wrong it was – it is ******* me right up,” one read.
“I just need to know a few things, it affects me every day,” another read.
But Dear denied the texts were evidence of alleged abuse, adding: “It can mean anything. There is nothing in there that I did anything wrong apart from talking, texting and listening. It was a duty of care.”
Dear is also accused of telling the girl she loved her repeatedly and coaxing her back to her home in Whitstable, where she carried out progressively serious sexual acts.
Canterbury Crown Court heard the teacher, who denies seven charges of historic sexual abuse, assaulted the pupil for “a lot of years”.
Even after the student started university, Dear allegedly “kept hounding her” and travelled hundreds of miles to her campus and locked her in a hotel room in a bid to perform sexual acts.
The alleged victim also claimed she was “so scared” no one would believe her and think she was a “stupid kid” if she came forward.
Jurors heard how Dear insists she had a “brief sexual relationship” with the girl when she was 18.
She denies five counts of indecent assault, one count of abusing a position of trust and inciting sexual activity with a girl aged between 13 and 17.
The trial continues.