A teacher who was sentenced to community work for having a sexual relationship with her teenage student should have been jailed, prosecutors say.
Monique Ooms walked free from Victoria's County Court in March after admitting to having sex with her 16-year-old male student while he was under her care or supervision.
She was ordered to perform 300 hours of community work after pleading guilty to four charges, but the Director of Public Prosecutions has appealed this sentence.
Ooms, who is now 17-weeks' pregnant, struck up a supportive friendship with the boy and spoke over Instagram and text messages before they started a sexual relationship, the court heard previously.
The school was notified anonymously and Ooms was stood down.
Ooms faced the Court of Appeal in Melbourne on Friday, where prosecutors argued she should have been handed a jail sentence.
"This is such serious offending, repeated offending, that for the respondent to not be in prison at all really undermines confidence in the system," Elizabeth Ruddle KC told the court.
She said the judge who sentenced Ooms had "really underestimated" the seriousness of the offending, since her position as a teacher helped her gain access to the victim.
If they had met under different circumstances then no offence would have been committed, since the victim was old enough to have consented to the relationship, Ms Ruddle argued.
Ooms' barrister Jason Gullaci SC admitted her sentence was lenient, but said his client did not engage in grooming or predatory behaviour.
She had suffered extra punishment as she has been abused by people since her case was made public in the media, he argued.
This included Ooms receiving a phone call from a person pretending to be a police officer who said "I heard you've been touching kids at some other high school".
If the appeal judges were to decide Ooms' sentence was too lenient, he urged them not to jail Ooms as her pregnancy was high-risk and she continued to experience poor mental health.
He went through details of her pregnancy, including the date of conception, to prove to the judges she believed she was free at the time and was not aware an appeal would be brought.
Ms Ruddle said Ooms could continue to receive the same level of medical care, including fortnightly GP and midwife visits, while in prison.
Justices Richard Niall, Maree Kennedy and Cameron Macaulay will hand down their decision at a later date.
1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732)
National Sexual Abuse and Redress Support Service 1800 211 028
