A female teacher who admitted having sex with her 16-year-old student on the back seat of her car will not be jailed.
Monique Ooms, 31, pleaded guilty to four counts of sexual penetration of a child under her supervision and care this week.
The former Sale Secondary College teacher, from Maffra in Victoria, would pick up the teenage boy in her car in the dead of night and drive to remote locations to have sex, the Herald Sun reported from Latrobe Valley County Court.
Former Sale Secondary College teacher Monique Ooms, 31, pleaded guilty in the County Court to four counts of sexual penetration with a male student. Picture: Supplied
She also had him over at her house.
The offending took place between July 1 and August 8 last year, the court heard, and began when the teacher messaged the boy on Instagram.
Ooms initially mostly said “no comment” during a police interview after her arrest on August 12, court documents showed.
But in text messages sent to a witness, seen by the police, she admitted to having sex with the boy.
The witness asked Ooms: “You did actually do it, didn’t ya?”
Ooms replied: “Yeah”.
It later emerged that she had sent photos to the boy of her in her underwear and they both had expressed their love for each other in text messages.
Ooms, 31, will not be jailed. Picture: Supplied
Monique Ooms. Picture: Supplied
Judge John Smallwood decided against jailing Ooms. Her offending carried a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.
“The offence isn’t the penetration, it’s doing it while a teacher,” the judge said.
He judge added that the case was “unique” and a “novelty” as in his view there was no evidence the victim had been harmed.
The boy did not take part in the court case and was “worried” about what would happen to Ooms.
The judge also took Ooms’ “fragile mental state” into account.
Mr Smallwood abandoned the sentencing while prosecutors check with he COurt of Appeal whether any similar cases have been dealt with.
Ooms’ registration as a teacher has been cancelled and she is now a bricklayer.