10 March 2023 , 16:36
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A female teacher has avoided jail despite admitting to having sex with her 16-year-old student in the backseat of her car.
Monique Ooms, 31, from Maffra in Victoria, Australia, pleaded guilty to four counts of sexual penetration of a child under her supervision and care at Latrobe Valley County Court.
Judge John Smallwood said he wouldn't send her to jail despite her having faced a maximum sentence of 10 years inside.
The court previously heard how the teen had snuck out in the middle of the night to sleep with the teacher.
The lad was in a "vulnerable situation emotionally" after losing a close friend in a car crash a week prior.
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Judge Smallwood - who admitted to never having dealt with a similar case - made a number of odd comments, saying he didn't know if the child had been harmed by her predatory behaviour.
The boy snuck out in the middle of the night to meet the educator (Pictured: Man unrelated to the case beside Ooms) (Facebook)"Often in these situations the harm is what comes from other people after it becomes public," he said.
The judge claimed that despite the youngster being 16 years old, he was not a child, arguing that the teen under her care had consented.
"There has clearly been discussion between he and her about the wrongfulness of it. He nevertheless consents and makes that very clear," he said.
The judge made some odd remarks, wondering if the 16-year-old child had been harmed by the woman's behaviour (Facebook)"He being very close to 17... does that go to in any way, shape or form the objective seriousness of the offending?"
Recalling another case in which a 17-year-old girl had sex with her 40-year-old male teacher, he said the two cases were very different, adding that he was keen to make sure his sentencing decision was not later appealed.
"I don't want those points being sorted out elsewhere," he said.
"In terms of comparable cases, I can't find any... I don't want to make a guinea pig of her.
"I don't want her to be put through the ordeal of a court of appeal over matters that haven't been properly addressed by me."
He opted not to jail the 31-year-old due to the "sheer fragility" of her mental state.
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He said the offence was that she was his teacher, not that she slept with the boy.
The teen had refused to discuss the incident with counsellors, according to Crown Prosecutor Andrew Moore.
"There's no definitive evidence of harm, but it is of course a notorious fact that in these sorts of cases - sexual offending against minors - harm doesn't surface sometimes until a little bit later and sometimes decades later," the judge said.