A homosexual who taught English and drama at one of Sydney’s most prestigious private schools has been spared jail despite being caught trying to groom a teenage boy for sex.
Former Knox Grammar School teacher William Roberto Gulson, 28, was found guilty in January of procuring a child for unlawful sexual activity in January over a conversation on homosexual sex app Grindr with a teenager who was trying to catch paedophiles.
He was sentenced to a three-year Community Corrections order at Downing Centre Local Court Judge Hugh Donnelly on Friday and placed on the NSW Child Protection Register after unsuccessfully fighting to have no conviction recorded so he could teach again, The Sydney Morning Herald reported.
Gulson’s psychologist told the court his client did not have a sexual interest in children, even though he searched for 166 terms related to “gay child porn” and sexual violence towards young boys involving priests, 10 News reported.
Defence barrister Paul Glissan argued for no conviction to be recorded, telling the court the Gulson’s offending was against a “fictitious child” on an “adult website” and that there was a “very low” risk of reoffending.
Gulson also argued he thought he was speaking with an adult, as the fake profile said the teen was 26, but the court heard the boy told Gulson he was 15 and told him he was looking for “older men”.
Crown Prosecutor Jessica Chan told the court that Gulson, who was sacked by Knox and had his teaching accreditation revoked by the government, had shown no remorse or contrition and said he was at an above-average risk of reoffending.
“In no sense… could a teacher of a 15-year-old child seeking to procure a 15-year-old child for unlawful sexual activity be described as trivial offending,” she argued.
Gulson’s LinkedIn profile still lists him as a teacher at the $42,000/year school on Sydney’s north shore, and says he graduated from the same school in 2014, and Ms Chan told the court a resume tendered as evidence also naming him as a current teacher showed he was “willing to be dishonest”.
Judge Donnelly said in sentencing that the case had to be distinguished from one where an offender had a “real relationship with a child” and meets them in person, but that the crime had “real potential to cause harm”.
He also found beyond reasonable doubt that Gulson thought he was speaking to a 15-year-old due to multiple statements from the boy about his age, and rejected Gulson’s claim that he thought the teenager was imitating a minor as part of a “fantasy” or “role-play”.
Header image: Left, right, William Gulson (LinkedIn, 10 News).
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