Teacher who had sex with 16-year-old male student should have been jailed, prosecutors say

A trainer who was sentenced to group work for having a sexual relationship along with her teenage pupil ought to have been jailed, prosecutors say.

She was ordered to carry out 300 hours of group work after pleading responsible to 4 prices, however the Director of Public Prosecutions has appealed this sentence.

Ooms, who’s now 17-weeks’ pregnant, struck up a supportive friendship with the boy and spoke over Instagram and textual content messages earlier than they began a sexual relationship, the court docket heard beforehand.

The college was notified anonymously and Ooms was stood down.

Ooms confronted the Court of Appeal in Melbourne on Friday, the place prosecutors argued she ought to have been handed a jail sentence.

“This is such serious offending, repeated offending, that for the respondent to not be in prison at all really undermines confidence in the system,” Elizabeth Ruddle KC advised the court docket.

She mentioned the choose who sentenced Ooms had “really underestimated” the seriousness of the offending, since her place as a trainer helped her acquire entry to the sufferer.

If that they had met underneath totally different circumstances then no offence would have been dedicated, for the reason that sufferer was sufficiently old to have consented to the connection, Ms Ruddle argued.

Ooms’ barrister Jason Gullaci SC admitted her sentence was lenient, however mentioned his consumer didn’t have interaction in grooming or predatory behaviour.

She had suffered additional punishment as she has been abused by folks since her case was made public within the media, he argued.

This included Ooms receiving a cellphone name from an individual pretending to be a police officer who mentioned “I heard you’ve been touching kids at some other high school”.

If the enchantment judges have been to determine Ooms’ sentence was too lenient, he urged them to not jail Ooms as her being pregnant was high-risk and she or he continued to expertise poor psychological well being.

He went via particulars of her being pregnant, together with the date of conception, to show to the judges she believed she was free on the time and was not conscious an enchantment could be introduced.

Ruddle mentioned Ooms might proceed to obtain the identical degree of medical care, together with fortnightly GP and midwife visits, whereas in jail.

Justices Richard Niall, Maree Kennedy and Cameron Macaulay will hand down their resolution at a later date.