Monica Young, a Sydney teacher facing serious sexual assault charges related to alleged sexual encounters with a 14-year-old student, had been in custody since her arrest. Photo / News.com.au
Monica Young, a Sydney teacher facing serious sexual assault charges related to alleged sexual encounters with a 14-year-old student, had been in custody since her arrest. Photo / News.com.au
A western Sydney high school teacher was "foolish" in meeting up with a 14-year-old male student outside school hours, but denies allegations she repeatedly sexually assaulted him, a court has heard.
Monica Elizabeth Young was granted bail in the Supreme Court on Thursday, which heard the parents of her allegedvictim feared if released she would "continue to prey on their son or other children".
Young's lawyer Ian Lloyd, QC told the court the case relied heavily on "exaggerated" CCTV footage.
Police will allege in court parts of the footage shows Young's hand moving towards the boy's groin, and her moving the teen's hand and placing it inside her tights.
Lloyd, however, said the footage obtained by police was obscured by a table and only revealed she had breached school rules by meeting up with the boy outside school hours and at his place of work, which he described as "foolishness".
"None of the CCTV shows any impropriety on her part towards this complainant. The vision does not show any sexual assault."
Sydney teacher Monica Young in happier times. Photo / News.com.au
The engaged Young, 23, was charged with 10 offences including five counts of aggravated sexual intercourse child between 14 and 16 years following her arrest at a Greenacre home last month.
Among the allegations police will pursue in court include that she sexually assaulted the student at school, in her car and sent him Snapchat messages of her lying in a bed with the caption "I'm waiting for you".
During the bail hearing the court heard another boy was present on "one or two occasions" she was allegedly in contact with the student.
After a month in custody she was granted bail at the third attempt by Justice Stephen Campbell after her father offered a $50,000 security and her grandmother offered to forfeit $800,000 worth of a property she owns if her granddaughter breaks any of her stringent conditions.
Under the many conditions she is banned from contacting the boy, his family, or accessing the internet and must live at her grandmother's home, which the court heard only has a "landline" phone connection.
Lloyd told the court there were concerns about his client returning to her family home as it would bring her into close contact with a potential witness.
Lloyd said lubricant found in his client's bag, which police allege was given to her by the boy, had been confiscated by Young when she saw him showing it friends in the schoolyard.
He said Young, who contacted the boy's mother after she had learned of the allegations against her, only did so to deny the boy's story.
"She was denying wrongdoing and always has," he said.
Young was effectively living as a "maximum security inmate" while on remand at Mulawa Correctional Centre, and had only been let out of her cell for "two to three" hours per day, Lloyd said.
"The last month has certainly brought home the results of the foolishness of breaking bail conditions," he said.
Prosecutor Scott Jaeger opposed bail and revealed new charges could be laid as investigations continue.
Sergeant Jaeger said Young had allegedly engaged in a "serious breach of trust" by enticing the boy into a sexual relationship and had "actively pursued" him through social media and face-to-face meetings.
Justice Campbell said the allegations were serious and "frankly shocking", which at the least detailed a teacher's "inappropriate attraction to a particular young man".
But he was satisfied bail conditions would allay any fears of reoffending.
Young has been stood down from work. Her matter will return to court on September 2.
