A SECONDARY school teacher who had sex with one of her students waited until his 16th birthday, because she wrongly thought that was the age of consent.

The substitute English teacher was 23 when she had sex with the boy in her car on a beach, after giving him a jumper, aftershave and pens as birthday presents.

Later, on the night before Valentine’s Day, she booked a hotel room where they sat on a bed watching Netflix on her laptop before again sleeping together.

The defence of the woman - who is now aged 25 - maintained she had waited until the boy was 16 to have sex with him, because she thought that was legal.

Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard she was immature, had lived a sheltered life and was “naive sexually and as a teacher”.

The accused pleaded guilty to two counts of defilement of a child under 17, on dates in early 2018.

Judge Martin Nolan adjourned sentencing to tomorrow.

Garda Stephen Hughes told prosecution barrister Monika Leech a relationship developed between the accused and the victim, who was in fifth year at a Dublin school.

The victim had told gardaí the teacher had been very easy to get along with and friendly, and she would talk about going out at weekends.

In the first week at school, he chatted to her after class while other boys were present, about "hobbies and interests and going out at the weekend".

Before Christmas, 2017 he met her in a nightclub while he was with friends. She came over and gave him a hug and they talked. They began communicating by Snapchat after he got home that night, and regularly after that.

They arranged to meet outside school for the first time in early January, when she picked him up in her car.

On the next meeting, before he got out of the car she gave him a hug, and he leaned in for a kiss, the court heard.

They then arranged to meet again on his 16th birthday, when she bought him a grey Adidas jumper, Tommy Hilfiger aftershave, a highlighter, pens and other items.

They drove to a beach, he thanked her for the presents and they kissed as they lay facing each other in the car, with the seats back. They then engaged in sexual contact and had sexual intercourse.

The victim told gardaí they chatted on the beach afterwards and he went home and spoke to her again on Snapchat.

They agreed to meet again on the day before Valentine’s Day.

On this occasion, she collected him and drove to a Dublin hotel where she had booked a room in her name. They spent the night there and had sex that night. The next morning, they checked out and she dropped the victim home, where he told his parents he had stayed in a friend’s house because it was the mid-term break.

He continued to communicate with the accused, but there was no further sexual activity. They discussed where the relationship was going and they were both aware it was getting serious. He felt they were boyfriend and girlfriend but they broke off relations, the victim had told gardaí.

The victim’s mother was notified that his school attendance was erratic. She was aware her son was in a relationship with someone and she knew her first name, but did not know she was his teacher. She quizzed her son about his girlfriend, but he was reluctant to bring her home.

Eventually, a neighbour told her that her son “was seeing a teacher and she was a lot older than him”.

The victim’s mother made inquiries, got an Instagram picture from one of her son’s friends and brought this to the school, where the principal confirmed the accused’s identity.

The teacher’s contract was terminated and the mother went to the gardaí, who arrested the accused as she returned to Ireland from abroad at Dublin Airport on October 29, 2018.

Asked about the relationship, the accused told gardai she and the boy would be “just chatting, talking about the age difference, we didn’t care”.

She said “she was young-looking, he was in an over-18s nightclub, I wasn’t concerned”.

Defence barrister James Dwyer said the accused had believed it was appropriate behaviour and that was why they waited until the boy was 16.

She “seems to have been genuine in that belief”, he said.

The Teaching Council of Ireland had since taken steps to remove her as a teacher. The accused had also suffered stress from publicity around the case, including reports on front pages of newspapers and a “social media storm", Mr Dwyer said.

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In a victim impact statement, the boy said he had suffered psychological problems including “severe, life-changing anxiety and depression” that “follows me like a little black cloud”.

“I don’t know how I got the mental strength to get up and get a job,” he said.

The accused woman was now in a relationship with a 28-year-old man, Mr Dwyer said. She had “destroyed” her teaching career and now worked as an office administrator.

Testimonials described her as “honest hardworking and completely trustworthy”.

In a letter to the court, she said she had suffered an “uprooting of her life”.

“I accept that I was wrong, I take full responsibility for my actions, and I’m truly, truly sorry for anyone who has felt the burden of what I have done,” she said.

“This is a lifelong lesson, something I have learned from.”

Her father had expressed “horror and dismay at the whole situation,” Mr Dwyer said.

A report by a specialist in child sexual abuse described the acused as a “naive young woman who has only recently realised the seriousness of and taken responsibility for her actions”.

She had no sexual interest in children or adolescents and “doesn’t fulfill the criteria for paedophilia", the report stated.

She posed no more risk of re-offending than anyone else in society.

The court heard the maximum possible jail term was seven years. Judge Nolan asked Mr Dwyer if there was any guidance in relation to sentencing and he replied that he could not find a similar case.

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