Teaching assistant, 55, repeatedly raped male pupil, 15, in classroom 'sex pod'
By Anders Anglesey, Overnight News Editor - The Daily Star
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A teacher’s assistant repeatedly raped a teenage boy in a grubby “sex pod” at the back of a classroom, a court has heard.
Nicole Evelyn Woods, 55, had been drinking booze and taking crystal meth when she abused the 15-year-old boy at a Melbourne high school, Australia, as well as sending him nude photos of herself.
Mum Woods at first denied the offences up until the victim – now 19 – was due to give evidence against her.
After joining the school in 2016 to help visually impaired students, Woods started to strike up an illicit relationship with the pupil.
She started to buy the boy’s food and paid for his mobile to be repaired before sending him a Facebook message where she asked him to “come play” with her in her pod at the back of the class.
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It was the first of multiple sexual assaults she committed against him over a five-month period in 2016, the court heard.
But it wasn’t until one year later that police questioned her, with Woods denying all the allegations against her at first.
After officers found photos of Woods on the boy’s Facebook account Woods fled – sparking a nationwide hunt.
She was eventually found and has been held behind bars at Victoria’s Dame Phyllis Frost Centre since December 13, 2019.
Woods then confessed to sexually abusing the boy, but told a psychiatrist that she believed it was OK as the teen had consented.
Later, she made a statement where she regretted sexually abusing the teenager.
She said: “It was a snap of the brain. It was just so wrong. I knew it was wrong. I always wanted someone to love me.”
Woods has since pleaded guilty to two charges of sexual penetration of a child under 16.
Today, she appeared in the County Court of Victoria via video link due to the ongoing coronavirus outbreak.
The court also heard a victim impact statement, where the teen described being left “broken” by the abuse carried out by the teaching assistant.
He said: “Dark days, anger pain, can’t sleep properly, sleep with knife, cutting myself. I’m not innocent anymore.”
County court judge George Georgiou then asked Woods’s lawyer: “Did she not receive training at all about inappropriate relationships with students? About what the age of consent is?
“It seems to me she hasn’t accepted responsibility for her offending.”
Woods will be sentenced at a later date.
