A private school teacher accused of having an unlawful relationship with a student in the 1980s says the girl pursued them, after she had stopped attending the school.
The teacher is on trial in Sydney's Downing Centre District Court over alleged unlawful sexual activity with the student who turned 17 years old in 1984.
Neither of them can be identified for legal reasons.
The pair did have a relationship, however, the teacher on Thursday said it began after the student had left the school, and denied ever asking her personal questions, driving her home, taking her to dinner, or having any sexual contact with her while she was in their class.
Under cross-examination, the teacher said the student had pursued them, making "constant calls" to their family home after obtaining the phone number from the White Pages following a chance meeting at a shopping centre.
It was several months after the student had left the school the teacher taught at, they said.
The teacher told the court they met with the student and told her they were not interested in a relationship.
The student called again several weeks later, the teacher told the court, unable to recall the precise wording of the conversation but describing its tone to the jury.
"It was kindly, it was gentle, it was pleading, and it really touched my heart," the teacher said.
Another phone call between the pair, almost four decades later, was recorded by police.
"I was a very young girl, you were my teacher, what was that about?" the student asked on the phone in May 2022.
The teacher answered: "It's never an easy thing to talk about."
They denied in court that was an admission of a relationship when the student was a young girl in their class.
The teacher told the student they had genuine feelings for her "from day one," but denied "day one" was when the student appeared in their class.
"Day one was when the emotional relationship began after the chance meeting," the teacher told the court.
The student asked whether the teacher thought their relationship was wrong.
"It's a matter of perspective. Anything that's about kindness can't be all that wrong," the teacher was recorded as saying.
Crown prosecutor David Patch asked how the development of their relationship could be perceived as "wrong" if it began when she was no longer their student.
"The matter of perception that she had previously been my student," the teacher said.
Judge Sophia Beckett sent the jury home early on Thursday afternoon after a legal issue arose.
“These are entirely usual and there is no point in speculating on what they may or may not be,” she told the jury before dismissing it for the day.
The trial is scheduled to resume on Friday.
Lifeline 13 11 14
Kids Helpline 1800 55 1800 (for people aged 5 to 25)
1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732)
National Sexual Abuse and Redress Support Service 1800 211 028
