Darkroom sex-attack teacher jailed

A teacher who sexually assaulted a student in a school photography darkroom over a two-year period has been sentenced to five years' jail.

Paul Anthony Segar, 50, of Mount Waverley, went on trial for 10 sexual offences against a former student.

A jury found him guilty of eight, including indecent acts with a child under 16 and sexual penetration of a child under 16 under his care.

The victim, a student of Segar's at an eastern suburbs secondary college in the 1990s, was 14 when he grabbed her from behind and touched her thighs and groin.

County Court Judge Julian Leckie said Segar's offences involved a serious breach of trust.

"I find nothing within the evidence which indicates true remorse," he said.

Judge Leckie told the court the victim and Segar worked on developing photos in the darkroom for the school magazine.

The court heard Segar first approached the victim in the darkroom, putting his hand on her chest and running his hands up and down her pelvis when she was 14.

During the next two years he sexually assaulted her on a number of other occasions.

The woman reported the matter to police about eight years later and wore a recording device to meet him at a shopping centre in March 2006.

Segar was sentenced to five years in jail with a three year non-parole period.