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A West Kelowna teacher who repeatedly had sex with a student is emotionally immature and drawn to nerdy kids, a psychologist says.

Bradley Furman accepted rides from teenagers, talked to them on social media and generally related better to adolescents than adults, Dr. Matthew Burnett testified in court this week.

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“He did report a special connection to students who were nerdy, or outcasts or struggling a little bit,” Burnett said at Furman’s sentencing hearing in Kelowna. “He connects better with adolescents than he does with adults, going to his maturity level.”

Even after Furman was arrested in May 2018, the former high school teacher at Mount Boucherie Senior Secondary was oddly optimistic despite the gravity of his situation.

“He had a view of things that seemed overly optimistic given the reality,” Burnett said. “The overall impression he gave was quite positive given the circumstances at the time.”