Teacher Monica Young who said ‘you don’t have b***s’ daring student for sex cries in court
Australian teacher Monica Young broke down in tears as the court heard how she groomed a teen student into having sex with her, even daring the minor to engage in sex acts on several occasions.
Young faced her sentencing hearing Thursday, June 24, after pleading guilty to three counts of aggravated sexual intercourse with a child under 16, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.
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The teacher reportedly dared her teen victim saying he didn’t "have the balls” to have sex with her, the court heard. “You started to dare him by saying things like ‘you don’t have the balls’ in terms of physical contact with you. Who’s being inappropriate? He’s 14, isn’t he? You’re his teacher?” a prosecutor asked her, with Young responding, “yes.”
She also admitted that she was the aggressor in every sexual encounter with the student, 14. She reportedly began explicitly messaging the child on Snapchat. “It‘s dangerous if we get caught but if you do it, it will be worth it," Young reportedly told the boy, the court heard, per the Daily Telegraph.
“This is not spontaneous,” the prosecutor noted to the court. According to the report, Young, of Greenacre, was 23 and soon to be married when she landed her first full-time gig with a Sydney school teaching teenage boys in March 2020.
In court, Young broke down in tears as she read an apology letter she wrote to the boy and his family in court. “I have caused emotional pain to (the victim) and I regret that deeply. I deeply regret that I let the relationship progress as far as it did … it was inappropriate and wrong,” she told the courtroom.
“My intentions were never to hurt him,” she continued. “I deeply regret allowing the relationship to progress as far as it did. I knew it was wrong. The lines became blurred and there was a lack of judgment that led to these serious offenses. I cannot imagine how (the boy) and his family felt … it will be something they carry with them for the rest of their lives and it’s not something I can take back or change,” she added, news.com.au reported.
Margaret Cunneen SC, the high-profile barrister who represented Young in court, noted that her client was engaged at the time of the crimes and "was in a relationship of several years … but it was going very badly."
On the other hand, prosecutor Alexander Terracini argued for a custodial sentence, telling judge to consider that Young had sexually assaulted the student within months of starting full-time teaching. “While it may be accepted she didn‘t go into teaching to get to children, in her very first job within months, she was abusing children,” Terracini said. "The fact is she is a 23-year-old teacher and she is abusing a 14-year-old. That is why she needs to go to jail.”
Young told the court she was ashamed of her actions and that she reflected on the "foolishness" of her conduct while seeing a psychologist. The educator was diagnosed with borderline personality disorder features, with experts suggesting that the breakdown of her engagement with another man had impacted her negatively.
The judge ordered Young to appear before the court on July 8 for sentencing. In the meantime, she remains free on bail.