Woman jailed for sex with 14-year-old male student

Azar Rahmatzadeh began talking to her 14-year-old student on Snapchat over the summer holidays.

The Melbourne teacher enjoyed the boy's attention and invited him to her house for a drink.

After picking him up from the train station in her car, she told him to keep a low profile and hide as they drove to her home.

She allowed the boy to help himself to alcohol once they arrived.

Rahmatzadeh then sat on his lap, kissed him and had sex with the boy in her bedroom.

His dad collected him and took him to his mother's home, where he cried.

In the weeks following, Rahmatzadeh send the boy a number of messages on social media, calling him "handsome" and her "fave" student.

"F***ing love your guts forever. I'm truly sorry if I hurt you," she told him.

The boy didn't tell his mum what happened for months, until he became scared a video being shared around the school could become public.

His mother now feels she failed to protect him. 

The boy said he has since been subjected to schoolyard ridicule, derision and had lost friends. 

When she was interviewed by police, Rahmatzadeh blamed the boy. 

She later pleaded guilty to sexual penetration of a child under 16.

"He's very young, a child. I wasn't thinking about a number which is absolutely horrific," she said.

County Court Judge Anne Hassan said Rahmatzadeh, then-aged 44, had multiple chances to reflect and avoid the "disastrous consequences" her offending had on the boy.

It involved a gross breach of trust and her messages before the offending were imbued with sexual overtones, the judge said.

"You were an experienced teacher, who knew that what you were doing was wrong."

She jailed Rahmatzadeh for up to two-and-a-half years on Friday. 

She will be eligible for parole after serving just one year.  

Judge Hassan handed her a shorter sentence as she said Rahmatzadeh was experiencing "mental turmoil" and despair when she committed the offending.

She was lonely after living through COVID-19 lockdowns on her own, and burnt out as her teaching workload had increased.

She said Rahmatzadeh had suffered extra-curial punishment by losing her career, reputation, her home and being subjected to media coverage.

Rahmatzadeh will be registered as a sex offender for 15 years.