U.K. Court: Teacher May See Student Lover, 15, After Jail Time
In a controversial ruling, a British judge declined to forbid contact between a music teacher and the 15-year-old pupil with whom she'd had an affair.
A Sept. 22 article in the U.K. newspaper The Times reported that 26-year-old music teacher Helen Goddard was sentenced to a 15 month prison term and a decade-long inclusion on a sex offender registry, but that the judge declined to bar the teacher from renewing her relationship with the 15-year-old girl whom she was convicted of having an improper sexual relationship.
The Times article said that Goddard took the girl to Paris for an intimate trip, and that the two had enjoyed sexual relations in the residences of the girl's parents, who maintain separated homes. Police also uncovered a trove of graphic text messages that the two had exchanged.
The affair commenced after Godard had served as a music instructor to the girl at school, the article said.
Under British law, adults in certain jobs or positions may not have sexual relations with minors in their charge, meaning individuals younger than 18, even though in other cases the age of consent is 16.
The prosecution in the case had sought an injunction against Goddard and the girl seeing one another for five years following Goddard's release from prison.
The judge in the case, Anthony Pitt, refused, saying that to have imposed such a restriction would have been "draconian and cruel" toward the girl, who reportedly remains in love with Goddard.
"I am conscious of the fact that whatever one thinks about what happened in this case, the girl appears to inevitably have suffered from what happened and this matter coming to light, and I have her interest in mind as well when I decided not to make this order [of banning contact between the two for five years]," the judge stated.
"I think it would be draconian and unnecessarily cruel to her as well."
The authorities became involved when on the parents of the girl notify the school about the affair. The Times reported that in the beginning, their relationship was seen as a positive one for the student, with the girl's mother quoted as saying, "She appeared to be thriving and happy for the first time in a very long time."
When the mother heard about the affair, "I felt that the allegations were a vicious rumor and I couldn't believe any teacher at the school could do such a thing," she said.
The girl's parents provided an impact statement, which was reprinted by the Times on Sept. 22.
"As parents, we trusted Miss Goddard as our daughter's trumpet teacher and were pleased that she reported a very positive relationship with her," the impact statement read.
"She actively sought Miss Goddard out for support at times when she felt vulnerable.
"Miss Goddard also went out of her way to be friendly towards the family more generally."
The impact statement went on to describe how Goddard had "betrayed" the family, reading, "However, under the guise of helping her we now understand that for over five months she was betraying our trust and our daughter's need for her to be a concerned teacher but maintaining safe boundaries in relation to a vulnerable pupil in her care.
"Miss Goddard did not stay true to her professional responsibilities which include taking full responsibility for feelings that might have arisen, and the private times she was able to have with our daughter as a result of her position," the statement continued.
"When our daughter told us she was going to visit or stay over with friends from her peer group Miss Goddard co-operated fully in the deception in order to allow her to stay at her flat.
"We feel particularly betrayed by Miss Goddard using a weekend when we had allowed our daughter to visit her older sister in Paris where we were told that she was staying safely overnight with her sister only to discover that Miss Goddard had in fact arranged to go to Paris that weekend and, unbeknownst to us, had taken our daughter to stay in a hotel with her," the parents' statement went on.
"We are deeply upset by the impact on our daughter and because of Miss Goddard's action which had serious and enduring consequences. She is now in a difficult position with regard to her friends.
"In terms of Miss Goddard's irresponsibility the situation is very complex in terms of her now being the object of intense teenage curiosity."
The statement expressed concern for the girl's psychological well-being, reading, "Although she may appear and certainly wants to feel that she is mature beyond her age she is a normal 15-year-old who, through the immature and impulsive actions of Miss Goddard has been deprived of the opportunity for normal age-appropriate development of sexual relations.
"Our daughter has been led to believe by Miss Goddard that their contact is within the bounds of a normal relationship."
The statement also suggested a wish for a ban on the two continuing to meet, reading, "Apart from the fact that she is a few months under age, from our understanding Miss Goddard and our daughter feel it's possible to continue their relationship without difficulty when she is 16 at the end of September.
"Conveying this to our daughter and taking no responsibility for her actions, we don't believe Miss Goddard has fully understood the seriousness of what has occurred in terms of her breaking the boundary and completely breaching the trust embedded in the teacher-pupil relationship," the impact statement added.
The prosecution, Regina Naughton, summed up the sequence of events. "They began to have feelings which were not expected.
"Miss Goddard said she didn't see her as a 15-year-old and they would have to wait until she was 16, or for three years.
"But flirting and the sending of text messages to each other began," Naughton said.
"The teenager described them kissing and then sleeping with each other, and it was at that point that the girl said she wanted a sexual relationship," the prosecution continued.
"The girl was told that if she felt anything was uncomfortable at any time they could stop. But the girl said it felt right."
The case bears a number of similarities to a Canadian case in which a female teacher and a pupil began a relationship, including a trip abroad, leading to jail time and the requirement that the teacher be listed at a sex offenders' registry.
In that case as well, the judge declined to mandate a period of time when no contact between the two would be allowed.
A Sept. 14 Toronto Star article detailed how the affair progressed from a gentle caress to a sexual affair between 39-year-old Leslie Merlino and an unnamed 20-year-old former student, who was 17 when the first flirtations began.
Merlino was sentenced on Sept. 14 to mandatory registration on a sex offender's Web site, where she must remain listed for the next 20 years.
The former teacher was also required to submit DNA to the state.
Two years to the day before sentencing, Merlino had pled guilty to a charge of common assault for physical contact with the student with sexual intent when the student was still legally a minor.
After that plea, Merlino was ordered to stay away from the girl, but when Merlino was contacted by the young woman, that order was ignored: the two became lover in the summer of 2007 and enjoyed a weekend together in Quebec two years ago, the article said.
The attraction between student and teacher began in 2006, on a school trip to Spain, the article said. At some point, Merlino stroked the girl's hair--a gesture charged with sexual meaning that led to the common assault charge.
Thar first conviction meant the end of Merlino's teaching career. Still, things went further, leading to her second conviction on charges of breach of probation and sexual exploitation--although the former student declined to file a victim's impact statement.
But the court ruled that even if the young woman had renewed contact, Merino was the one charged with abiding by the terms of her first conviction.
Said the judge in the case, "Regardless of the wishes [of the young woman], it was Merlino who was in a position of trust and authority."