3 days ago
Teacher claims kiss with teen girl in photo booth supposed to be 'pretend'
A music teacher captured kissing a teenage girl in a photo booth has claimed the passionate embrace was supposed to be a 'pretend kiss'.
Adelaide educator and flautist Janelle Colville Fletcher, 40, is standing trial in the South Australian District Court accused of sexually abusing a teenage girl.
Fletcher also stands accused of grooming the girl and another teenage girl to make them more amenable to sexual activity.
The prosecution, led by Chris Allen, alleged Fletcher sexually abused the girl in various locations, including the girl's home, over several months.
Mr Allen presented photographs and correspondence between the pair, including a snapshot taken in a photo booth at a cinema which showed them kissing.
Fletcher, under questioning from defence lawyer Andrew Culshaw, told the court she did not voluntarily engage in the kiss.
'It was meant to be a pretend kiss, like we had done previously where your lips don't actually touch, and in that particular photo we got close and she did sort of pull me in and yeah, the photo went off,' she said, as reported by The Advertiser.
'Her hand was on my neck and then the lips touched.'
Fletcher claimed the teen continued contacting her after the photograph was taken, but that she blocked all further contact from the girl.
The prosecution has alleged the relationship began after a game of truth or dare in which Fletcher allegedly dared the girl to kiss another teenage girl.
Mr Culshaw, Fletcher's defence lawyer, told the court his client had not engaged in any such game and did not encourage the girls to engage in sexual activity.
Fletcher pleaded not guilty to one count each of sexual abuse of a child and communicating with intent to make a child amenable to sexual activity.
During cross-examination, she denied ever being sexually involved with the girl, and insisted she was heterosexual.
'That just never happened,' she told the court.
The court was also read emails sent by the pair, including one message in which Fletcher told the girl: 'My feelings for you are not lust but love'.
Asked to distinguish the difference between lust and love, Fletcher replied that love was 'not necessarily sexual or romantic'.
The music teacher said she had intended to 'slowly get her to think it was her idea to not be with me, but to be with someone her own age'.
Fletcher admitted she had told the teen she loved her but insisted it was only because she believed it was what she wanted to hear.
She characterised her feelings as a 'big sister' type of love.
The trial continues, with closing arguments expected to be held on Monday.
