A Catholic school teacher who abused a student had dinner at her victim’s home to gain the trust of the teenager’s family.
Michelle Grant, a 62-year-old Victorian woman, was sentenced to six months in prison for the shocking abuse of a St Columba’s College Essendon student in the early 1990s.
On one occasion, during a sleepover, Grant and the student watched what the County Court heard was a “lesbian film” and kissed on the sofa.
The art and textiles teacher then copied scenes from the film and sexually abused the teenager. Herald of the Sun reported.
Grant taught at the school from the 1980s until she was fired in 2022, grooming the girl from the age of 14 and writing her letters telling her she loved her.
As their ‘intimacy’ grew, the professor, who was married at the time, drew the victim naked and told a ‘web of lies to keep the relationship alive’.
He put himself in a “position of trust” with the girl, having dinner with the victim’s family and arranging with her mother to spend time with her.
The teacher also took the student to the theater and on country trips with her husband and the girl’s family and friends.
Michelle Grant (pictured), a teacher at a Catholic girls’ school, has been jailed after pleading guilty to sexual penetration of a minor under her care, supervision or authority.
Grant would “sneak” away to be “physically” with the victim on these trips to the country, the court heard.
The girl was tricked into sleeping at the teacher’s house in Moonee Ponds, being told that other people would be there too.
But there was no one else there and Grant stuck his tongue in the boy’s mouth, saying afterwards: “You can’t tell anyone… I could go to jail for this.”
The mother of two then left her husband and moved to Essendon, where she continued to commit crimes against the victim.
When the teenager finished high school, she tried to distance herself from Grant.
But she used ’emotional blackmail’ to try to keep the ‘sexual relationship’ going and slapped the victim in the face when her daughter eventually ended the relationship.
Grant paid for the victim to see a therapist to deal with the trauma suffered years after the abuse ended.
Grant, 62, was sentenced to six months in prison for the shocking abuse of a St Columba’s College Essendon pupil (pictured) in the early 1990s.
Police informed the Department of Education of the charges against Grant in 2022.
Her registration was revoked and she was banned from teaching after pleading guilty to what Judge Gregory Lyon called “disgusting” and “utterly abusive” acts.
The abuse by a “trusted teacher” left the victim suffering “real, deep and lifelong damage”, leading to feelings of “shame, pain and guilt”, the judge said.
Grant was sentenced to 18 months in prison for her “egregious transgression,” but 12 months of that sentence was suspended.
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