Gumleaf
September 22nd, 2009, 01:50 AM
15:55 AEST Tue Sep 22 2009
By Melissa Iaria
http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=866325
A former Melbourne teacher who made his 17-year-old student pregnant and paid for her to have an abortion is appealing his conviction.
Stephen Peter Morrow was jailed for a minimum of four years for having sexual relations with the student while he was a physics teacher at an inner Melbourne girl's school in the late 1990s.
He was found guilty by a Victorian County Court jury last year of nine counts of penetrating a 16- or 17-year-old child under his care, supervision or authority.
On Tuesday, Morrow appealed his conviction and sentence in Victoria's Court of Appeal.
His lawyer Michael Croucher argued the individual sentences Morrow received for each count were too high.
He raised a number of grounds of appeal, including an assertion that four of the jury verdicts were "unsafe" because some evidence during the trial was too general.
Mr Croucher said Morrow's minimum jail term should be reduced to 18 months - which he has already served.
But prosecutor John McArdle QC said the sentence was not too high and that Morrow's offending was serious and committed over a long period.
The jury had heard the married teacher was 46 when he seduced his victim after she asked him for extra tuition for one of her classes.
The girl lost her virginity to him in the back seat of his car, she became pregnant to him at age 17 after they had unprotected sex, and he paid for her abortion.
Morrow, who denied committing the offences, was jailed for a maximum six years and declared a serious sex offender.
The appeal judges have reserved their decision.
© AAP 2009
By Melissa Iaria
http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=866325
A former Melbourne teacher who made his 17-year-old student pregnant and paid for her to have an abortion is appealing his conviction.
Stephen Peter Morrow was jailed for a minimum of four years for having sexual relations with the student while he was a physics teacher at an inner Melbourne girl's school in the late 1990s.
He was found guilty by a Victorian County Court jury last year of nine counts of penetrating a 16- or 17-year-old child under his care, supervision or authority.
On Tuesday, Morrow appealed his conviction and sentence in Victoria's Court of Appeal.
His lawyer Michael Croucher argued the individual sentences Morrow received for each count were too high.
He raised a number of grounds of appeal, including an assertion that four of the jury verdicts were "unsafe" because some evidence during the trial was too general.
Mr Croucher said Morrow's minimum jail term should be reduced to 18 months - which he has already served.
But prosecutor John McArdle QC said the sentence was not too high and that Morrow's offending was serious and committed over a long period.
The jury had heard the married teacher was 46 when he seduced his victim after she asked him for extra tuition for one of her classes.
The girl lost her virginity to him in the back seat of his car, she became pregnant to him at age 17 after they had unprotected sex, and he paid for her abortion.
Morrow, who denied committing the offences, was jailed for a maximum six years and declared a serious sex offender.
The appeal judges have reserved their decision.
© AAP 2009