A maths teacher at an elite school has been sentenced to prison after admitting horrific child sex offences.
Robert Messina, 51, has been jailed for two years and four months, with possible parole after 14 months, for offences including encouraging a man to sexually abuse a six-year-old boy.
With his sentence now complete, Messina could be eligible for parole in January 2025. Western Australia reported.
The teacher was sacked following his arrest at John Septimus Roe Anglican Community School in Mirrabooka, north of Perth, in late November 2023.
Messina’s decades-long teaching career took him to work at many of Perth’s top schools, including Guildford Grammar School in the early 2000s.
But the career of this respected professor came crashing down when he was arrested and charged with possession, production and distribution of child exploitation material.
Messina’s arrest came after the Western Australian Police’s child exploitation operations team found an online predator communicating under two online names: “Bastian” and “Old boy Messi”.
Both online profiles belonged to Messina.
Robert Messina, 51 (pictured), has been jailed for two years and four months, with possible parole after 14 months, for offences including encouraging a man to sexually abuse a six-year-old boy.
The husband and father (pictured right) pleaded guilty to eight charges but insisted he never went into teaching to be close to his children.
Police posed as a 12-year-old boy on Snapchat, where Messina immediately told them he was a teacher.
Messina also said: ‘I love boys.’
The chats allegedly occurred while the teacher was working at his school, including messages that he wanted to kiss the boy and show him his genitals.
Police seized the former teacher’s devices, including two Samsung mobile phones, and found even more material.
Additional evidence included two dozen images of child pornography, as well as six graphic videos.
There were also explicit text conversations in the phone data, with Messina communicating with a man and another person posing as a child.
Police believe another conversation was with a small child.
As Messina texted a man calling himself Sam, the two men discussed a six-year-old boy Sam was babysitting.
Messina encouraged him to touch the six-year-old boy, as well as look at his genitals and asked Sam to describe how he felt.
The teacher added: “You are taking care of him and you need a reward.”
Other conversations Messina had included descriptions of sexual acts and photographs of children and adults.
In another conversation, the disgraced former professor referred to himself as ‘Pops’.
The married father pleaded guilty to eight charges at his second court appearance.
The teacher, who was the head maths teacher at John Septimus Roe Anglican Community School north of Perth, was arrested at the school following an undercover operation by the Western Australia Police’s child exploitation operations squad.
Messina appeared in court again on Tuesday and cried as his crimes were detailed to him.
District Court Judge Laura Christian was told that for months the former teacher told the report’s writers that he stood by his position that he had no sexual desires for children.
But Messina changed that stance last week, when his lawyer, Mark Andrews, said his change of stance came after a “candid and honest discussion.”
“Albeit belatedly, he admits that his offences were driven and motivated by an interest in young children… a deviant sexual interest,” Andrews said.
Mr Andrews said Messina’s interest in young children existed from childhood, saying the former teacher had a stifled upbringing due to a strict Italian upbringing.
Messina’s lawyer also said the married father had experienced triggers, such as concerns about his job and health, which meant that by late 2023 “the walls effectively began to close in around him.”
“He escaped into this surreal world… and things really started to fall apart,” Andrews said.
Messina also said his love for his wife and children was genuine and through references, his family informed the court that they still support him.
The court also heard that during Messina’s long career, there were never any complaints against him for inappropriate behaviour.
This was also supported by the statement the Messina school released at the time of his arrest.
Messina also insisted that she did not join the teaching profession to be close to children.
But prosecutor Matthew Thompson said Messina had “used his status as a teacher to build trust” with children he believed he was communicating with, making him a serious predator.
“He presented himself as someone you could trust,” Thompson said.
“The case against him was overwhelming: the material was on the devices. And the loss of his profession is a consequence solely of his own actions… and is incompatible with the privilege of being a teacher.”