A former Avondale College teacher was jailed today for indecently assaulting four of his pupils.
English-born Julian George Thorne, aged 34, was sentenced to two years and three months jail for indecently the schoolboys by touching them in class.
Thorne began teaching at Avondale College last December and this year started touching the boys' thighs and genitals while sitting or crouching beside them.
Judge Lindsay Moore said the case was a ``tragic situation'' as Thorne was an intelligent man and a gifted teacher.
But the offending was a grave breach of trust which had impacted significantly on his victims ``not only at the time but in an on-going sense of who they can and should trust.''
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