A 58-year-old Australian girls' school teacher has been jailed for two years and 10 months for having sex with a 16-year-old student up to 30 times
A 58-year-old Australian girls' school teacher has been jailed for two years and 10 months for having sex with a 16-year-old student up to 30 times
According to News.com.au, Nicolaas Ockert Bester, a former science teacher at St. Michael's Collegiate School in Hobart, pleaded guilty in the Tasmanian Supreme Court to maintaining a sexual relationship with a person under the age of 17 and possessing child exploitation material.
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He will be eligible for parole in December 2012.
The court was earlier told that the girl had turned to Bester for advice in March 2010 while struggling with an eating disorder.
He gave her a key to his office and offered it to her as a safe place to go.
When the girl's parents became concerned about the advice he was giving her, Bester was barred by the school from contacting her.
Bester and the girl, however, began a sexual relationship in June.
The two had sex a total of between 20 and 30 times, with Bester using false profiles on social networking website Facebook to communicate with the girl.
Tasmanian Supreme Court Justice Helen Wood, while sentencing Bester on Friday, said that the girl "reluctantly participated in the sexual relationship", but did not always express her concerns.
"She felt angry at herself for allowing it to happen and attempted self-harm," the judge said.
She also said that the case involved a "grave breach of trust", noting that the girl had come to Bester when she was emotionally and psychologically vulnerable.
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