A former Launceston teacher’s aide has been jailed for grooming three teenage boys at the school where he worked and sending them explicit images of himself.
Brandon Lee Anthony Chell, 28, was this month sentenced in the Supreme Court to 15 months’ imprisonment, backdated to June 12.
He pleaded guilty to two counts of grooming with intent to expose a young person to indecent material and two counts of attempting to involve a person under 18 in the production of child exploitation material.
The crimes were committed between April and August 2023, when Chell was 25 and working as a teacher’s aide at a Launceston high school.
All three victims were male students at the school. Two were aged 15 and one was 15 and 16.
The court heard Chell befriended the boys on Snapchat.
He sent one of them nude and semi-nude images of himself almost daily, often late at night and asked the boy to send images of his penis.
He sent a second boy a message demanding an explicit image. The boy blocked him minutes later.
He sent a third boy an explicit image, accompanied by what the court described as an offensive message. That boy stopped communicating with him.
The offending came to light when teachers became suspicious in late 2023 and police were notified.
Justice Robert Pearce said the “dominant sentencing consideration” in such cases was the protection of children.
“As a person employed in a school you were trusted by them, by their parents, by your colleagues and employer to educate the students entrusted to you and keep them safe,” he said.
“By your actions you committed a serious breach of that trust.”
Chell, who now lives in Western Australia and works in transport, has no relevant prior convictions.
He will not be eligible for parole until he has served half his sentence.
His name was placed on the sex offender register, with reporting obligations for five years after his release.
