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Legalbrief   |   your legal news hub Sunday 26 April 2026

Australian teacher jailed for affair with pupil

A physical education teacher at an Australian school has been jailed for an effective six months for having an affair with a 15-year-old pupil.

The Age reports three Court of Appeal judges unanimously decided to overturn a November County Court ruling imposing a 22-month suspended jail term. That decision sparked an outcry among victims and child abuse and parents\' groups, and drew accusations of leniency. Karen Ellis has been registered as a sex offender under the country’s tough laws. Justice Callaway said the failure to jail Ellis had ‘unintentionally violated the rule of equality before the law, including equality of concern for male and female victims and equality in the sentencing of male and female offenders’. Full report in The Age