Woman admits schoolgirl crush on accused ex-teacher

A 23-year-old woman has admitted in court she had a crush on her former teacher, who allegedly indecently assaulted her.

Under cross-examination in the Auckland District Court today the woman said she liked the attention.

Her 42-year-old former teacher, who has name suppression, faces three charges of indecent assault. The names of the school and the woman are also suppressed.

She was 14 and 15 at the time and he was 34 and 35 when the alleged offending took place three times between February 2001 and September 2002.

Counsel for the accused Belinda Sellars, asked the woman if she "sought him out" when she could.

The woman replied that they "sought each other out" but she thought he was "a bad person for what he did".

Asked if she thought it wrong that the accused used to buy students food, let them use his classroom and drop them off after school if they needed, the woman said she thought it blurred the lines of an appropriate teacher/student relationship.

Crown prosecutor Lana Hamilton told the jury yesterday the offences happened after the relationship developed outside the normal student/teacher relationship.

She said it started with non-school related emails, then gifts, including flowers and underwear, and they started spending time alone on school premises outside school hours.

On several occasions, there was kissing and touching involved and they said they loved each other, she said.

Ms Hamilton told the jury the accused admitted sending the emails but denied any physical contact between himself and the complainant.

Prior to this alleged offending, the accused had been warned in 1999 and November 2000 about keeping a professional distance between himself and his students, she said.

The teacher was suspended from the school in May last year.

- NZPA