Illawarra teacher who admitted to abusing boy applies to clear conviction

Gaye Grant faced the Court of Criminal Appeal in Sydney on Wednesday to quash the conviction, arguing she could not be legally responsible for the crime under laws at the time.

The 77-year-old was sentenced at Wollongong District Court in December 2022 to six years and nine months imprisonment, with a non-parole period that was set to expire in April 2026.

She pleaded guilty to a historic charge of maintaining an unlawful relationship with a child stemming from when she taught at Albion Park's St Paul's Catholic Primary School in the 1970s.

Grant, who was married with children, had admitted to repeated acts of sexual abuse and encouraging the boy to fondle her breasts. She told the boy she loved him and coached him on what to say if her husband discovered them together.

Fourteen months into her sentence, Grant was bailed ahead of the appeal following the decision of Helga Lam, another teacher who was charged under laws in force during the 1970s.

Lam had denied 15 counts of indecent assault on four school boys for offences dating back to 1978. The charges were dropped before trial after successfully challenging the technicality in the law.

The court found Lam had been charged under the now-repealed Section 81 of the Crimes Act.

This law concerned only "homosexual crimes" during a period when homosexuality was still criminalised in NSW, and did not apply to "conduct committed by a female".

Grant's defence barrister Stephen Boland argued on Wednesday there was a legal precedent for a conviction appeal to be entertained despite a guilty plea, if the appellant could not be legally convicted of the offence.

Justice David Davies, sitting with Justices Natalie Adams and Sarah McNaughton, said it would be necessary for the court to give reasons and reserved their decision.

- With AAP