Female teacher jailed after having sex with schoolboy

‘She abused her position of trust and authority,’ judge says in sentencing remarks

The woman was sentenced at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court (Screenshot/Google)

A former teacher who had sex with her 16-year-old pupil has been sentenced to three years in prison, with the last two suspended.

She pleaded guilty to two counts of defilement at Dublin Crown Court in March 2018 and was disqualified as a teacher.

The woman, who was 23 years old when the crimes were committed, has not been named publicly in order to protect the victim’s identity.

Judge Martin Nolan said her offences were “serious” and that she must face a custodial sentence.

He described the woman, now 25, as having been a young and inexperienced teacher at the time of her offences.

“She abused her position of trust and authority,” Mr Nolan said, as the defendant wept.

He added: “Undoubtedly this behaviour brought shame on herself. It seems almost certain that she has lost her opportunity to teach for a considerable period of time.”

The woman was working in her first job as a substitute English teacher in 2017. The boy, then 15, was one of her pupils, according to RTE.

The boy saw his teacher in a nightclub in 2017. He said hello and the woman gave him a hug. She later kept in contact with him on Snapchat.

In a victim impact statement the teenager said at the time he believed the pair were in a relationship.

On his 16th birthday the woman took him on a drive and bought him a present.

She later had sex with the boy for the first time.

The woman then took the schoolboy to a hotel room where they stayed overnight and again had sex.

The boy’s mother discovered the relationship after becoming suspicious about his behaviour.

She approached her son’s school and the police. Detectives arrested the teacher in October 2017 at Dublin Airport.

The woman made a full confession when questioned by detectives but said she had wrongly believed the age of consent in Ireland to be 16.

Under Irish law, the age of consent is 17.

Additional reporting by agencies