21 March,2011 04:20 PM IST | | Agencies
A school house mistress in Australia has been brought before the courts for sexually abusing six boys in the age group of 11 to 12.
Judge Anthony Garling was told by Crown prosecutor Kara Shead that the 41-year-old woman should be sentenced on the basis of her crimes, not her gender.
Defence lawyer, Christopher Watson, said while the boys suffered harm, the damage was "unlikely to be as significant" as if the perpetrator was male and the victims female, "because of the actual nature of the act".
In December, Judge Garling had rejected the woman's defence of mental illness, finding her guilty of 21 sex offences involving boys, aged 11 or 12, who attended the NSW school where she worked.
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The 2009 offences included 18 counts of sexual intercourse, involving fellatio and penile-vaginal penetration.
In one incident when five boys were in the tent, she was naked and asked, "Does anyone want a blow job?"
One victim later said the woman had pressured the boys, saying, "Come on, let's go, don't be a puss", and he had "felt like a wimp" until he agreed to oral sex.
The judge found the woman was suffering from bipolar disorder at the time, but that she knew her actions were legally and morally wrong.
The woman's psychiatrist Mike Richardson said on March 21 he did not think she had been operating in a predatory manner.
"Rather, it was the environment that allowed her to pursue a promiscuous approach to these boys," the Daily Telegraph quoted him as saying.
Richardson said the woman, who now had a partner a little older than herself, received sexual gratification from the boys.
Shead said the woman occupied a 'privileged position', being an adult from whom the victims sought care, solace and comfort, and that she exploited the victims' age and their vulnerable situation, noting most of them were away from their parents.
"Aged 11 or 12, these were little boys who were exposed to significant depravity," she added.
Watson said the woman had not disputed the facts in the case and the only live issue had been her mental state, and submitted that a lengthy jail term would institutionalise her.
"I suggest a short period of incarceration would allow her to come out and not lose contact with the rehabilitation programs currently put in place," he said, referring to her ongoing psychiatric treatment.
The judge revoked her bail and adjourned sentencing to March 24.
