An Australian teacher who sexually assaulted a student has been sentenced to four years and nine months in prison.
Monica Elizabeth Young, then 23, started messaging a 14-year-old student on Snapchat and Instagram during Sydney's first COVID-19 lockdown last year.
When his geography classes resumed at his western Sydney school, Young dared the boy to hug and touch her when they met up, taunting him by saying he "did not have the balls".
She later met up with him at various locations, including classrooms, on a staircase, and her car.
Young, now 24, appeared in Sydney's Downing Centre District Court on Tuesday. Judge Kate Traill described the crimes as "very serious" and Young should've recognised the boy's sexual immaturity.
"The offender was a figure of authority, she exploited his vulnerability and manipulated him," Traill says, as reported by the Guardian.
Young was given a maximum sentence of four years and nine months in prison, with a non-parole period of two years and five months.
Traill says she accepts Young was in a "bad relationship" at the time, was immature, and didn't become a teacher to get near young men for her own sexual gratification.
The court heard Young was just two months into her first teaching role and she felt "overwhelmed", especially because she was in charge of a class she wasn't qualified to teach.
She says she saw her 14-year-old victim as a friend rather than a student and expressed guilt and shame following her crimes.
Young only stopped after the victim's family saw her pick up the boy.
The victim's mum earlier learned of the teacher's contact after she took her son's phone and saw a Snapchat photo of her lying fully clothed on a bed with the caption "I'm waiting for you".
In a victim impact statement read to the court, the boy described how his relationship with his parents, brother, only friend, and cousin deteriorated when they found out about Young.
The boy says he "feels like a failure who let his entire family down".
"He says the offender has ruined his dreams… ruined his school and his relationship with his family and friends and trust in others and ruined his life," Traill says.
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