Prosecutors have called for jail time for a former trainee teacher convicted of sexual offences against a teenage schoolboy. The call came as the woman's lawyers asked the Australian Capital Territory Supreme Court to consider the ongoing online abuse she has faced since the case became public.
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:00Petra Shasha was convicted last year of four charges, including grooming and persistent
00:08child sex abuse.
00:10She lavished gifts and money on the boy, gave him lifts, and at his request sent him pornographic
00:15images and footage of herself.
00:18That included images of the pair in a change room.
00:21The pair met when she was a trainee teacher at St Edmunds College when he was only 15.
00:27The boy had repeatedly told her he was 16, and she said she believed him, only learning
00:33his true age when she found his ID in her car.
00:36Her lawyers urged the court to factor in the boy's role in the situation in assessing her
00:42culpability.
00:43This was a victim who behaved in a manner beyond his years.
00:47But prosecutors said there were many indications he was younger, including his year level,
00:52and Shasha should be jailed for the offences.
00:55It was a very serious offence.
00:57It happened over a long period of time, with some frequency.
01:02Petra Shasha sat with her head bowed for most of the hearing, often close to tears.
01:08Her lawyers asked for a non-custodial sentence.
01:12They also asked the court to take into account the high level of online abuse she's endured
01:17since being charged, reading out two messages received today while she was in court.
01:24Shasha will be sentenced later in the year.