Oz teacher charged for 'mutual masturbation' act walks free

Melbourne, Sept 30 (ANI): A former teacher at Sydney's Knox Grammar School has walked free from a Sydney court after pleading guilty to child sex charges.

In Hornsby Local Court, Damien Vance, 55, was given a two-year good behaviour bond for sexual assault by inciting an indecent act.

Vance, who was teaching at the private school, incited a 14-year-old boy to an act of mutual masturbation between February and October 1988.

He was arrested in April this year at his home in Melbourne.

While sentencing Vance, Magistrate Leslie Brennan said the offence was at the lower end of the scale but not at the bottom.

He agreed with Vance's solicitor Bruce Williams that his client had shown no signs of problem behaviour since the incident.

Brennan said that the significant time that had passed since the offence had no bearing on the sentence.

"Some 21 years later the matter has resurfaced. It was probably always on the mind of the young boy," News.com.au quoted Brennan as telling the court.

Vance's name had been placed on the Child Protection Register, which Brennan said would effectively end his teaching career.

Vance was one of five ex Knox Grammar school teachers charged with sex offences against former pupils at the school in the 1970s and 1980s. (ANI)