A RELIEF teacher who had an illicit two-year affair with a Year 9 student, telling the girl their love was a "gift from God", has avoided jail.

Yolanda Lyons – who began a sexual relationship with a 14-year-old female in the 1980s, when she was in her 30s – received a three-year suspended jail sentence and will become a registered sex offender for life.

Lyons, 58, continued teaching in Melbourne until two years ago, when she left her job at a school for intellectually disabled children after being charged over the sordid affair.

Hailed as an "exceptional educator", Lyons won an award for teaching excellence in 1995 – many years after the principal of Wellington Secondary College in Mulgrave discovered she was molesting a student.

County Court Judge Christopher Ryan said the school head learnt about the relationship but took no action, apart from telling the teacher her services were no longer required.

Judge Ryan said Lyons, then a fundamentalist Christian and a married mother of two, preyed on a vulnerable teenager by taking advantage of shared religious beliefs.

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"Your conduct was grave – it involved the manipulation of the complainant, who had been a victim of rape and had confided that in you," he said.

"You breached the trust of the child who was your student, her parents, the school community and the community at large."

Lyons pleaded guilty to two counts of indecent assault against a child and two counts of gross indecency against a child under her care, supervision or authority.

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The offences carry maximum penalties of five and three years’ imprisonment respectively.

The judge said it did not reflect well on the former teacher that she told police the teen was manipulative, controlling and had instigated the sexual activity, pressuring her to take part.

He said Lyons had created opportunities to be alone with the girl by arranging to look after the teen.

Lyons was described as a dedicated teacher and a "workaholic" with some colleagues suggesting she went above and beyond as penance for her crimes.

The court previously heard Lyons was depressed and anxious since charges were laid and had lost 25kgs.

"You have lost your career, you have become a recluse… Physically you are in a pitiful state," Judge Ryan told her this morning.

"You will not be going to jail today."

He said, during the 28-year delay in the matter coming to court, the "emotionally dysfunctional" Lyons had rehabilitated herself and shown remorse.

He sentenced her to three years’ jail, wholly suspended for three years, and said Lyons must become a registered sex offender and report for life.

In a victim impact statement previously read to the court, the former student – now 43 – said the teacher infiltrated her life to take advantage of her.

"You told me you loved me… you told me our love was a gift from God," she said in the statement.

"You told me this was God’s love, no wonder I lost my faith."

The woman said she had spent more than $10,000 on counselling to deal with her resulting anxiety, depression and suicidal ideation.

She said she burnt and cut her flesh to deal with the self-loathing and shame caused by the offences and questioned her sexuality.

"I do know I lost everything that mattered to me," she said.

Following the offending, Lyons taught at Hampton Park Secondary College in the south-eastern suburbs for more than 20 years.

She was teaching intellectually disabled children at Emerson School in Dandenong until 2011, when these matters were reported to police.