Teacher, 32, who told 17-year-old student to wear a skirt so they 'could have sex in the classroom' jailed
An Australian teacher who had a sexual relationship with one of his teenage students and asked her "to wear a skirt to school so he could f*** her in the classroom" pleaded guilty to his charges and was sentenced to prison.
Gavin Malcolm Duncan, 32, from Jamisontown in Greater Western Sydney had started talking to one of his 17-year-old female students at the Katoomba High School in 2017, according to the Daily Mail. The pair initially discussed school and other personal issues before Duncan gave her his mobile number and they began talking to each other outside the classroom.
Eventually, their relationship became sexual. Duncan is said to have paid for an Uber to drop the student at his home so they could have sex, and as she left afterward, he told her to wear a skirt to school "so he could "f*** her in the classroom."
Their fling continued into the following weeks and months. Several weeks after they first had sex, they met at his house again after they exchanged flirty texts at a State of Origin game. Then, during a third encounter a week later, he allegedly told her, "Everything about this is so wrong, but this feels so f****** good."
Duncan reportedly had a change of heart after that meeting and told the teen they should stop having sex because he feared getting caught and that she might out their relationship to others out of spite. However, the sexual relationship continued even after that conversation. The pair kept having sex after the student turned 18 and until she graduated from high school.
Rumors about their inappropriate relationship first started making the rounds around mid-2019, prompting the school principal to approach Duncan and question him about his alleged behavior.
The 32-year-old said he was innocent but secretly told the teen to deny their relationship. He was eventually suspended from the school after he confessed to his illicit activities to a fellow teacher, who then contacted the police.
When questioned, Duncan initially told investigators that the victim was 18 when their sexual relationship started but later admitted they started having sex when she was 17.
At a hearing at the Penrith District Court this past week, the victim said in a statement that she had been controlled by her teacher and that the relationship left her having suicidal thoughts, anxiety, and trouble with sleeping.
"I let his opinions shape mine," she said, according to the Blue Mountain Gazette. "No-one understands when you are being groomed you don't have a reason to say no because they make you feel like they can give you the world."
Duncan's defense lawyer, Paul Rowe, cited a report from a psychologist that noted that Duncan had an "undiagnosed persistent complex bereavement disorder" which compromised his judgment and decision making. He said this disorder had followed the death of his mother and the death of his cousin, who he had found in the garage. "Mr. Duncan totally lost his moral compass in circumstances living with the weight of all these problems," Rowe had argued.
Duncan was sentenced to 15 months behind bars after pleading guilty to three counts of sexual intercourse with a person in special care. He will be eligible for parole in January after serving seven months of his sentence.