Teacher had sex with girl

A former Christchurch teacher faces a potential jail sentence after having a sexual relationship with a 14-year-old.

Daniel Bruce McMillan, 46, was working as a teacher at Kingslea School in Christchurch from 2014 to 2016 when the offences occurred.

The girl went to a different city school.

Yesterday, a Christchurch District Court jury found McMillan guilty of three charges of sexual connection with a person younger than 16 years, and guilty of meeting a young person following sexual grooming. He was acquitted of supplying or administering cannabis to a young person.

The relationship began when McMillan sent the teen sexual messages. The young girl reciprocated his advances.

She and McMillan engaged in sexual acts twice when she was aged 14 to 15. They had sex again about a year later.

Their sexual relationship came to light when a mutual acquaintance found text and Facebook messages the teen and McMillan had sent each other.

Defence lawyer Grant Tyrrell said the Crown could not prove the sexual relations took place before the teenager turned 16.

But the jury rejected this idea, taking only a few hours to reach a unanimous verdict. McMillan will be sentenced next month.