The Australian PE teacher who was facing charges of sexually molesting a 14-year-old boy manages to walk away from jail after completing only 18 months of her punishment. It is reported that her sentence was slashed off in an NSW Court of Criminal Appeal judgment after she successfully appealed her sentence.
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Katie Smith, a glamorous PE teacher from Australia who groomed a 14-year-old child on Snapchat messages has now been freed from the jail after almost 18 months.
The 30-year-old sent vulgar and explicit messages and pictures to the teenager as she groomed him on the social media platform.
The court was told that Smith assaulted the child at school and in a car park.
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The PE teacher who is originally from the Hunter Region of New South Wales, Australia, broke down in tears as she received a sentence of three years and ten months in 2020.
Now according to recent reports, the 30-year-old has had 18 months slashed off her sentence in an NSW Court of Criminal Appeal judgment after successfully appealing the sentence.
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Following the successful appeal, the pedophile teacher was released from jail on February 3 this year after serving just one year and five months, Daily Mail Australia reports.
Not only this but the reports also suggest that Smith threatened the teenager to stay silent and even warned him of 'getting himself' in trouble if he didn't comply with her.
The appeal judgment reportedly reveals that on February 14 2019, when police turned up to arrest her, she secretly rang the schoolboy.
"When the victim phoned her that day she told him that the police were at her home and that he should not tell anyone what had occurred between them as they would both 'get into trouble' and asked the victim to delete her number," the CCA judgement read.
There were some disturbing revelations made at the court, as she told the court that she was seeking validation amid problems in her marriage and feelings of insecurity, and just "wanted to be told I was pretty".
According to the court, SMith befriended the child, who was not her student in 2018 and they inappropriately touched each other on account of two different occasions.
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The incident once happened in a storeroom at the school and the second one was reported in a car park, the Daily Telegraph reported.
Smith sent the teenager her private pictures too. The boy in return too sent her explicit pictures.
Smith later found out that some of the photos of her had been sent to other pupils at the school, and that brought an end to the exchanges, the court was told.
Later, the 14-year-old told his mom about the sexual encounters who immediately called the police on the teacher and an investigation led to Smith's arrest.
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An investigation by police reveals that SMith admitted to her crimes and admitted charges of grooming a child for unlawful sexual activity, indecent assault of a person under 16, and intentionally sexually touching a child between 10 and 16.
She had told Newcastle District Court she didn't want to have sex with the boy, but was seeking validation amid problems in her marriage.
She said she experienced insecurity over her appearance and eating disorders, adding she just "wanted to be told I was pretty".
The court at the time heard she suffered from a borderline personality disorder and was also pursuing therapy.
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