The Teachers Disciplinary Tribunal has been referred a teacher convicted of paying to watch a person under 18 years old have sex with her boyfriend on two occasions.

The Teacher had been approached by the boyfriend, and had not known that the female was under 18.  He had been sentenced to 100 hours community service by the District Court.

The Tribunal found that his being convicted of a criminal offence brought the profession into disrepute and it had no real alternative but to deregister the teacher.

If the teacher had watched a movie with an underage actor he would not have been guilty of a criminal offence, nor faced disciplinary action, but as the teacher watched a live sex session and the participant was, unbeknown to him, under 18, he was guilty of an offence and lost his ability to practice his profession.