Teacher charged with making child porn in Melbourne
Herald Sun
Monique Hore
4 May 2017
A teacher has been charged with making child pornography following a police investigation into upskirting at an eastern suburbs school. Generic image
A JEWISH child abuse survivor has praised two Melbourne Jewish schools for quickly alerting police to a teacher’s alleged possession of child porn.
Police launched an investigation after Bialik College, in Hawthorn East, uncovered “inappropriate pornographic matter” on a portable hard drive.
The 52-year-old teacher was charged with make/produce child porn and possess child pornography over alleged incidents between 2014 and 2017.
It is understood he taught middle and senior students at Bialik College before moving to Mount Scopus Memorial College.
Bialik College said in a letter to parents that it was “deeply shocked and upset”.
Child abuse survivor Manny Waks has applauded the quick actions of two schools who alerted police to a teacher who’d allegedly made child porn. Picture: Stuart McEvoy.
Its IT department allegedly uncovered the pornographic material when it restored a hard-drive that had sat in storage since the teacher left the school.
“The arrest is as a result of information recently uncovered by Bialik College that, among other materials, appears to relate to the time of the teacher’s employment at Bialik,” the letter said.
The school reported the material to police, the Victorian Institute of Teaching and Mount Scopus Memorial College.
It described the teacher’s alleged behaviour as “calculated and covert”.
Mount Scopus Memorial College, in a statement, said the teacher had been suspended before being arrested today.
“Naturally, the safety of our students is our highest priority,” the statement read.
“Mount Scopus is committed to the highest standards of Child Protection, as reflected in rigorous policies and practices.
“As at all times, we have urged any student who may feel they have been a victim of improper conduct, or who has witnessed any suspicious activity, to report this to the Victoria Police.”
It staff at Bialik College found the alleged material on a hard drive at the school before alerting police.
Manny Waks, who says he was ostracised when he went public about being abused at an Orthodox Jewish school in Melbourne, praised both schools and said it seems “we ... have learned from the mistakes of the past”.
He posted a letter reportedly from the teacher’s current employer, saying the teacher had been suspended and the school offered to counsel those distressed by the news.
“I would like to applaud the schools for responding effectively and expeditiously to these serious allegations,” he said in a statement late on Thursday.
“In particular, after speaking with both principals, it was heartening to hear of their respective school’s immediate and ongoing response.”
The accused teacher, from Noble Park, has been bailed to face Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on August 10.
Originally published at Herald Sun.