Schoolteacher plied FOUR teenage boys with alcohol so she could have sex with them

A former childcare worker who had sex with four boys in a drunken orgy has been given a suspended prison sentence.

Drug addict Laura O'Donnell, 20, had sex with her victims - aged between 12 and 15 - on three separate occasions between February and June last year at her home in Ballarat, south-western Australia.

She also spent time at the home of one of the boys after buying them all alcohol. On the first two occasion she had sex with one child but on the third, all four boys were involved.

Guilty: Laura O'Donnell was given a suspended sentence after having sex with four boys

But the sordid sex parties ended after one of the victims told his father about the incidents, and O'Donnell was arrested in November.

At Victoria County Court, O'Donnell pleaded guilty to four counts of sexual penetration of a child under 16 and five counts of committing an indecent act with a child under 16.

But Judge Sue Pullen suspended the sex offender's two-year, five-month jail sentence after taking into account her 'dysfunctional' background.

According to Victoria's The Age news website, Judge Pullen told O'Donnell that her crimes were 'very serious and disturbing'.

Sleepy town: The centre of Ballarat in Victoria where Laura O'Donnell committed her offences

But a consultant psychologist had earlier testified that O'Donnell sought out attention because she had low self-esteem. She had also used drugs from the age of 14, had below-average intelligence and had suffered from narcissistic and dysfunctional parenting and severe depression.

O'Donnell was also given an 18-month community-based order - despite breaching an earlier order for armed robbery.

Judge Pullen said O'Donnell would be a registered sex offender for life and would need to stop drug and alcohol use to avoid being a risk of reoffending.

The sentence was condemned by Australia's Crime Victims Support Association.