“What kind of man would do that?”

World News

By Sarah Keoghan, News.com.au

A senior drama teacher who sexually touched two pupils before being charged in almost 18,000 cases of abuse involving children as young as nine years old has been sentenced to a minimum of seven years and three months in prison. prison.

Aaron Wormald, 48, was sacked as director of creative arts at Jamison High School in Sydney’s west in 2022 after his “inappropriate” conduct with three students was reported to police.

The youngest of his victims was sexually touched by Wormald during an after-school class.

Passing sentence on Thursday in the NSW District Court, Judge Graham Turnbull SC described his offending as “appalling”.

“What kind of man would do that,” the judge said.

“It’s an environment with an expectation of safety.”

The court heard how, during the after-school lesson, Worwald asked the girl to try on a suit that was too big for her. He then asked her to “drop it,” exposing her bra and underwear. He then moved it up her body while touching her waist and breasts.

“It was her teacher and she had been physically exposed,” the judge said.

“This is an abuse of trust and authority.”

Another victim was touched in the waist and breasts by Wormald after he kissed her on the forehead in front of another teacher while praising her for her performance in a play.

He later pulled her in to kiss her again before asking to collect his lunch order from the canteen.

The third victim had to make Wormald sign a form to drop his class. The court heard how Wormald pulled her towards him so she was “almost sitting on top of him” and held her down forcefully, demanding: “You’re not letting him down because of me, aren’t you? isn’t it?

She also told police that Wormald asked about the size of her partner’s penis and that she talked about sex and nudity in class “almost every day.”

“This is serious behavior,” the judge said.

“He was supposed to support and raise the children.”

The court also heard how Wormald created several fake Snapchat and Instagram accounts to obtain sexual content from young girls and boys.

In one case, Wormald convinced a 12-year-old girl to send explicit images of herself via Snapchat.

He told another victim – aged 14 – that he was a “good artist” and asked her to “send him nudes” so he could draw her.

When she refused, Wormald told her he was “crying” because he had spent $400 on equipment on the way home from school.

“They thought they were dealing with their peers and other teenagers rather than a 40-year-old man,” the judge said.

During a search of his home, police found a total of 17,693 images and videos of child abuse on various electronic devices. The videos showed children as young as nine years old being sexually assaulted by adult men.

Wormwald wiped his eyes with a handkerchief as the sentence was pronounced.

“It’s a very confronting reading,” the judge said.

Wormwald received a 25 percent reduction in his sentence for pleading guilty at an early stage.

The court heard that Wormald was living in a “squaller” and drinking large quantities of alcohol at the time of the offence.

He was sentenced to a total prison term of seven years and three months without parole, with a prison term of 11 years and eight months.

The sentence will be backdated to June 29, 2022, the date of his first custody.

He will be eligible for parole for the first time on September 29, 2029 and his sentence will expire on February 29, 2034.