Monica Young always dreamed of becoming a teacher despite years of classroom bullying, sexual abuse in the playground and struggling with her grades.
And yet, within three months of landing her dream role at an all-boys school in Sydney’s southwest, she started to groom and sexually abuse a ‘vulnerable’ 14-year-old boy.
The 24-year-old was sentenced in the New South Wales District Court on Wednesday after pleading guilty to three counts of aggravated sexual intercourse with a minor.
Throughout the proceedings, the court heard details of her lonely six years of high school, beginning in grade seven when she was sexually assaulted by a peer.
There was little sympathy for the convicted child abuser as she was led to her cell on Wednesday to begin her four year and nine month sentence, but magistrate Kate Traill told the court she was given an insight into the root cause of the offending.
Young struck up a relationship with the boy at the school where she was employed as his teacher, groomed him online and eventually encouraged him to have sex with her – on and off campus – on several occasions.
He was too young to give consent and has since told the court the offending ruined his life.
Monica Elizabeth Young, 24, was supported by family as she arrived at NSW District Court on Wednesday to learn her fate after pleading guilty to three counts of aggravated sexual intercourse with a minor
Despite the serious claims levelled against him, Young’s ex maintains he will continue to offer her support even while behind bars – and despite the fact that she is now single
The boy was forced to drop out of school after his peers found out, and his relationship with his brother, parents and extended family has been strained by the proceedings.
The court heard that Young admitted to knowing the feeling. When she was aged 12 and in grade seven, a boy of a similar age sexually assaulted her by pulling her by the ponytail to his crotch area, and holding her face there.
She reported the assault and the boy was subsequently expelled from school.
But her peers, she claims, bullied her incessantly for ‘being a snitch’ after the assault and the court heard Young struggled to make any friends at school in the years to follow.
One of her only friends came when she was in year 12 and studying for her HSC with dreams of becoming a school teacher.
The friend was a boy two grades younger than her who repeated year 10 because he struggled academically. He sought her out and what begun as a tutoring dynamic developed into a close friendship.
Young entered court prepared to be sentenced to a custodial sentence. Throughout the proceedings, the court heard details of a desperately sad and lonely six years of high school, beginning in grade seven when she was sexually assaulted by a peer
There was little sympathy for the convicted child abuser as she was led to her cell on Wednesday to begin her four year and nine month sentence, but magistrate Kate Traill told the court she was given an insight into the root cause of the offending
Eventually the duo became involved romantically, but his traditional Lebanese, Muslim family never approved.
Young agreed to a bureaucratic conversion to Islam in an attempt to gain their trust and with that came concessions for the relationship. She was able to begin sleeping in the same room as her partner and travelling away on holidays together.
They later got engaged and Young was again on the outer with his family, the court heard.
A traditional Islamic ceremony took place, but the court heard the union is not recognised in Australian law.
Young’s lawyer claims the relationship soured when her partner began cheating on her, took control of her finances, isolated her from friends and family and ‘became abusive’.
He denies the allegations, telling Daily Mail Australia he has ‘the utmost respect for women’ and only ever treated Young the same way he would want his mother or sister to be treated in a relationship.
Young expected to be sentenced two weeks ago but the judge delayed proceedings to consider the outcome
When she finally landed her first job at an all boys high school in Sydney’s southwest, she was a new graduate specialising in PDHPE, which is a highly coveted role among teachers. Pictured on her way to Bankstown Police Station while she was on bail
Despite the serious claims levelled against him, Young’s ex maintains he will continue to offer her support even while behind bars – and despite the fact that she is now single.
But he won’t be paying her a visit any time soon, acknowledging inmates get little time to accept visitors and that her immediate family deserve priority access to her.
The court previously heard that Young was not particularly bright, exemplified by her Higher School Certificate ATAR score of just 44.
That mark is just 14 points shy of a ‘mystery mark’ – a black dot which is generally issued on the testamurs of students who score 30 or below.
Most teaching degrees in Australia have a minimum ATAR acceptance ranking of about 65, but schools have been known to accept lower scores in recent years.
Young’s lawyer, Margaret Cunneen SC, previously told the court she would not be considered a ‘mature person’ for somebody her age and struggled to develop both academically and socially.
On one occasion, she sent a message to the victim which read: ‘It’s dangerous if we get caught, but if you do it it’ll be worth it’
When she finally landed her first job at an all boys high school in Sydney’s southwest, she was a new graduate specialising in PDHPE, a coveted role among teachers.
Instead, she was assigned 23 geography classes, with a smattering of science and PDHPE classes.
When she took to the stand during her sentencing hearing two weeks ago, she admitted to being overwhelmed by the workload.
Young didn’t want to admit she was struggling and ask for help, so she did her best to stay one page ahead of her students by studying the textbooks and teachers’ notes each night before class.
Within three weeks, the Covid pandemic closed the schools and Young, along with all of her students, was forced online.
It was during this time that the line between student and teacher was ‘criminally blurred’, and after years of struggling to bond with people her own age, Young claims she befriended her victim.
Young arrived at court more than an hour early ahead of her sentencing on Wednesday, rugged up in the same black jacked she wore on her last appearance, with her mother at her side
Young initially maintainedher innocence before changing her plea to guilty early in 2021
But there was no ‘friendship’. The boy admitted in a victim impact statement supplied to the court that he never expected Young could hurt him and that he learned to trust her.
To him, she was the ‘cool’ teacher.
She sought him out on Snapchat and the relationship progressed from there. At one point, there was a group chat between Young, the victim and his friend, the court heard.
They had sex on multiple occasions between June 24 and July 6 2020, including at least twice on the school’s grounds and once in her car at a local park.
On one occasion, she messaged him asking him to hug her at school the next day, and when he didn’t, she sent a follow up accusing him of ‘not having the balls’.
The dare became a frequent tactic Young used to convince the boy to lure the boy into sexual liaisons.
Monica Young always dreamed of becoming a teacher, despite enduring years of classroom bullying, sexual abuse in the playground and struggling to get her grades up
On another occasion, she sent a message which read: ‘It’s dangerous if we get caught, but if you do it it’ll be worth it’.
The duo exchanged messages about the sex acts they wanted to perform on each other, with Young initiated the ‘sexting’ on several occasions.
The most brazen of her offending occurred inside the school’s classrooms, once where she messaged her victim to meet him in an English room to perform a sex act on him, and a second time where she groped the boy at the back of the classroom while the rest of the year nine class watched Disney movie, WALL-E.
During the movie, a friend of the boy even sat on the other side of him as the sex act took place.
On the last day of school, the duo met on the staircase at 3.20pm to kiss goodbye, and Young performed oral sex on the 14-year-old.
At the beginning of her sentencing hearing, she tearfully told the court: ‘I just never imagined I’d be one of those people… I’ve never been in trouble with the law. I hope he and his family can forgive me.
‘I was foolish.’
Young had only just started her teaching career when the offences occurred between June 24 and July 6 last year
She wrote an apologetic letter to the victim and his family in which she said she regrets letting the relationship progress and understands that both her victim and his family will carry the trauma of the offence ‘for the rest of their lives’.
‘I knew it was wrong, I knew my actions were inappropriate but I couldn’t let myself believe it,’ she said. ‘He trusted me and I abused that trust.’
On Wednesday, the court agreed.
Judge Kate Traill described her offending as a ‘violation of trust’ before delivering her sentence. Young will be eligible for parole on October 31st, 2023.
‘[You] exploited his vulnerability and manipulated him,’ Judge Traill said.
Young was ultimately sentenced to four years and nine months’ custody, but with time served she will be eligible for parole in a little more than two years.
She will never be employed as a teacher again, and Judge Traill acknowledged she would need to be reintegrated into the community and her life post-sentence.
‘But for these very serious offences she is a very impressive young lady… she was in a very bad relationship and made very bad decisions,’ Judge Traill said.