- She arrived at Manchester Crown Court clutching the baby’s hat.
A “pretty” maths teacher accused of having sex with two pupils has been accused of seeking “sympathy” and presenting herself as a “victim” because she is a woman, a court has heard.
Rebecca Joynes, 30, is said to have “groomed” a 15-year-old boy by taking him shopping and buying him a £345 Gucci belt before having sex in her flat.
She then became pregnant after allegedly beginning a relationship with a second 15-year-old boy while out on bail for those allegations.
Joynes denies that her relationship with the first boy, known as Boy A, was sexual and claims that she only had sex with the second boy, Boy B, after he turned 16 and she was fired from her job, which It means he was no longer in a position of trust.
She is on trial at Manchester Crown Court, where the jury today heard closing speeches from the prosecution and defense lawyers.
TODAY: Rebecca Joynes, 30, hung her head as she arrived at Manchester Crown Court and clutched the knitted garment behind a purple notebook as her father put his arm around his daughter’s waist.
She revealed in court that her baby was taken from her within 24 hours of her birth (pictured, arriving at court on Wednesday).
The former teacher, who came to court every day of her trial wearing a pink knit hat tucked into her pants, burst into tears as she gave evidence.
Joe Allman, prosecuting, said Joynes’ tears in court and her display of a pink baby hat, which she has worn tucked down the front of her pants every day of the trial, was an attempt to gain “sympathy.” “from the jury.
And he accused her of ‘gaslighting’, a claim she had made about the two schoolchildren.
“One of the first things your honor told him was that sympathy has no place in this process,” he said.
“You are here to clinically analyze the evidence.”
He added: “It was a pretty blatant attempt to gain his sympathy.”
The court previously heard how court proceedings led to Joynes having her baby “taken away” 24 hours after her birth.
Police launched an investigation after rumors spread at her school and she was subsequently arrested and suspended from her job in October 2021 and fired in July 2022.
She has denied using to “earn” jurors’ sympathy as she faces trial accused of having sexual relations with two students.
‘Who is being gaslighted and who is doing the gaslighting?’ she asked.
He said: “Is it possible that your approach in this process is that you expect to be treated differently because you are a woman and not a man in the same situation?”
Allman said Joynes expected they would “treat her very differently” and view the evidence “differently” because she is a woman and not a man in the same situation.
“We have to ask ourselves, in the cold light of day, would Miss Joynes and those acting on her behalf appeal to your sympathy in that way if it had been a 30-year-old man called Robert Joynes?” she asked.
He also asked if the two boys would have “been belittled in the same way in an attempt to discredit them” if they had been two girls of the same age.
‘Would the defense on behalf of Miss Joynes (in our theoretical scenario, on behalf of Mr Joynes) have suggested to you that the girls were the ones who wanted it to happen?’ she asked.
“I just couldn’t have adopted the same lines in the questions because it would have been quite obscene.”
He said it was easy to forget that Joynes was a mature, adult teacher, he said, and that they were two teenage children and “that’s how she would like you to view this case.”
“So, she almost becomes the victim and the children become the perpetrators,” he said.
Police launched an investigation after rumors spread at her school and she was subsequently arrested and suspended from her job in October 2021 and fired in July 2022.
Joynes denies two counts of sexual activity with Child A, two counts of sexual activity with Child B and two counts of sexual activity with Child B while a person in a position of trust.
The trial continues.