Miss-Delectable
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Teacher wins appeal over pupils exposing themselves
A former teacher who avoided serving jail time for forcing deaf students to expose themselves in class has had his conviction quashed.
The former teacher was last July sentenced to five months' jail, wholly suspended for a year, after being found guilty on nine counts of gross indecency by a jury.
His Victorian County Court trial heard the man asked vulnerable pupils, aged between eight and nine, to expose their genitals in class in the 1970s.
The father of two was diagnosed with cancer during his trial and given a 55 to 75 per cent chance of living for five years.
The sentencing judge said he would not jail the teacher because of his cancer.
The Victorian Court of Appeal on Friday granted the man's appeal and quashed his conviction on the grounds the Crown was not able to overcome fundamental inconsistencies and deficiencies in the evidence supporting its case.
"At the outset of the trial, the Crown failed to establish with sufficient particularity the case it was bringing against the applicant, and the manner in which its evidence supported that case," Chief Justice Marilyn Warren said in her reasons.
"In light of the unusual nature of this case, in which multiple witnesses were apparently testifying with respect to the same event, this failure unfairly prejudiced the applicant's ability to conduct his defence."
Chief Justice Warren ordered the man, whose name has been suppressed, face a retrial on all but one of the counts.
"I would order that the application (to appeal against the conviction) be granted, the appeal allowed and the applicant's conviction on all the counts be quashed," Chief Justice Warren said.
Justices Mark Weinberg and Pamela Tate agreed with the chief justice's reasons.
A former teacher who avoided serving jail time for forcing deaf students to expose themselves in class has had his conviction quashed.
The former teacher was last July sentenced to five months' jail, wholly suspended for a year, after being found guilty on nine counts of gross indecency by a jury.
His Victorian County Court trial heard the man asked vulnerable pupils, aged between eight and nine, to expose their genitals in class in the 1970s.
The father of two was diagnosed with cancer during his trial and given a 55 to 75 per cent chance of living for five years.
The sentencing judge said he would not jail the teacher because of his cancer.
The Victorian Court of Appeal on Friday granted the man's appeal and quashed his conviction on the grounds the Crown was not able to overcome fundamental inconsistencies and deficiencies in the evidence supporting its case.
"At the outset of the trial, the Crown failed to establish with sufficient particularity the case it was bringing against the applicant, and the manner in which its evidence supported that case," Chief Justice Marilyn Warren said in her reasons.
"In light of the unusual nature of this case, in which multiple witnesses were apparently testifying with respect to the same event, this failure unfairly prejudiced the applicant's ability to conduct his defence."
Chief Justice Warren ordered the man, whose name has been suppressed, face a retrial on all but one of the counts.
"I would order that the application (to appeal against the conviction) be granted, the appeal allowed and the applicant's conviction on all the counts be quashed," Chief Justice Warren said.
Justices Mark Weinberg and Pamela Tate agreed with the chief justice's reasons.