The mother of one is due to be sentenced in October for her offending. Photo / NCA NewsWire/Brenton Edwards
The mother of one is due to be sentenced in October for her offending. Photo / NCA NewsWire/Brenton Edwards
WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT
A former South Australian teacher who groomed her student sent the boy explicit Snapchat messages, showing her breasts and offering to perform sex acts, court documents have revealed.
Renee Jade Underwood, 34, has pleaded guilty to an aggravated count of making a child amenable to sexual activity, which she committed between July and August last year in the state's Riverland region.
The interactions began after Underwood exchanged social media account details with the boy, who was in the early years of high school, according to the documents obtained by NCA NewsWire.
They revealed the woman and the victim predominantly communicated over Snapchat.
She began sending him personal messages, telling him about her relationship problems with her partner at the time and saying she had developed feelings for someone else.
Underwood later told the boy that person was him.
The former Riverland teacher apologised to her victim and his family, saying she took full responsibility for her actions. Photo / NCA NewsWire/Brenton Edwards
Just two weeks after that conversation, she sent the student another Snapchat message saying: "Can I grasp your c**k".
She told the boy she wanted to take him into his bedroom and put him on the bed.
In another message sent to the victim on the social media app, she said she would do whatever he wanted her to do and "would even suck [his] c**k".
Underwood then said she wanted to put her foot in his lap and rub his genitals.
Her offending was unravelled after sending the boy a Snapchat photo of her bare breasts partially covered in a towel.
This image was seen by the victim's friend, who took a photo of it on his phone.
Unknowingly, the teacher asked the boy to send something in return which he complied with, sending her a photo of himself in his underwear that he took earlier.
At that time Underwood was also communicating with another student on social media where she told the young girl, known to the victim, that she had sexual dreams about the boy and if he was aged 20 or 25 she would "get with him".
The victim's friend who saw the Snapchat told his father about the photo, who then contacted the police.
Underwood was arrested at her Berri home on September 30, 2020.
The defendant apologised to her victim and his family in the Adelaide District Court earlier this week.
Reading a letter from the dock she said she was sorry for the pain and humiliation she caused and took full responsibility for her actions.
"(I) recognise that I was wrong and grossly misguided," Underwood said.
"I'm ashamed of the damage I've caused, more so because I'm a victim of sexual abuse and have lifelong trauma associated with it.
"I should have known better."
During that pre-sentencing hearing, the court heard Underwood had recently received a text message from an unknown number which read: "Karma's coming dog".
Her lawyer Jane Abbey said her client suffered from depressive moods, stressors like loneliness and social isolation, and abused alcohol because she was in "a dark place" at the time of her offending.
She argued Underwood had since dealt with her stressors and mental health issues.
Abbey said her client felt "incredible remorse and could not be more sorry" for her actions.
Amy Fisher, prosecuting, said Underwood's offending was serious because of her breach of trust.
Referring to victim impact statements from the victim and his mother that were provided to the court, she said it was clear the defendant's offending had a "profound impact" on them and the boy now suffers from anxiety, embarrassment and issues with trust.
Fisher said Underwood's offending was "far too serious" to impose a bond and believed jail time was the appropriate sentence.
In response, Abbey asked the judge for "mercy" by imposing the lowest possible penalty that was suitable because her client had a three-and-a-half-year-old daughter in her care and was already on a self-initiated and successful path to rehabilitation.
