The mother of a girl abused by a former Ballarat music teacher has described being told of the abuse as like "being sucked out of a plane" and plummeting towards the earth.
The victim-survivor, her mother and her father all spoke during a plea hearing for Damien Woods, 49, who faces 12 charges relating to the sexual abuse of one of his students.
Woods pleaded guilty to the charges, including five counts of sexual assault of a child aged 16 or 17 under care or supervision, and three counts of sexual penetration of a child aged 16 or 17 under care or supervision, before the County Court of Victoria in Ballarat on Wednesday.
The offending occurred between August 1 and December 26, 2022, but the prosecution told the court about years of contact between the teacher and the student in the lead up to the physical assaults.
110,000 messages exchanged with victim
The court heard that Woods was a trusted member of staff at Ballarat High School, and had became a confidante of the victim-survivor while teaching her.
The two exchanged more than 110,000 messages and would often text each other late into the night, beginning when the girl was 13 years old.
The court heard the messages became increasingly sexual as the student grew older, and progressed to selfies, with Woods encouraging her to send photos of herself in her underwear.
This escalated to naked photos and phone sex, and after the student turned 17, Woods sexually assaulted her on multiple occasions, including on the school grounds.
The victim-survivor and a friend confronted Woods before telling the victim-survivor's parents and reporting the offending to police in January 2023.
Woods was arrested soon after and initially denied much of the offending during his police interview, the court heard.
Woods 'downplayed the offending'
The victim-survivor read her impact statement to court, detailing the isolation and anger she felt due to the abuse and the breach of trust, and as the result of becoming a source of gossip in her community.
She spoke of how the fear of seeing Woods in the street brought her to tears, and that even the smell of a particular laundry detergent could be triggering.
Her mother told the court of wanting to vomit after discovering she had been "completely and unwittingly conned" by Woods.
"When [she] told us, I felt like I'd been sucked out of a plane and [was] in freefall," she said.
The victim-survivor's father spoke of his intense rage at Woods, and both parents told the court of the bravery of their daughter.
Woods's lawyer told the court of Woods's good character, lack of prior offending, and that the offending coincided with his dissatisfaction with his "long and well-regarded" career as a teacher.
The defence counsel also described the offending as "not calculated" and "at the lower end" of the scale, but conceded her client had "downplayed the offending" to police initially.
Woods was released on bail and will return to court on February 16 for further plea.