A Victorian physical education teacher has been jailed for having sex with a student 20 years his junior. A judge found it “disturbing” that Bryan Russell-Keely was so infatuated with the teenager that even his arrest didn’t stop him contacting her. Russell-Keely appeared at the County Court in Bendigo via videolink for sentencing after pleading guilty to more than 10 charges, including sexually penetrating a child under 16, producing and possessing child abuse material and sexual assault of a child.
Disgraced PE teacher Bryan Russell-Keely met his 14-year-old victim while teaching her. The 36-year-old was jailed on Thursday for six years and eight months but will be eligible for parole after four years. Russell-Keely was 34 when he taught the girl at a Bendigo secondary school, and the pair connected on social media in May 2023.
Shortly after this, he started picking her up and taking her to bushland locations for sex. On one occasion, she skipped school and he collected her while she was still in her uniform. He also filmed some of the sex acts on his mobile phone.
The teacher even warned the girl about the consequences for him if they were caught. “You asked her for her silence and her loyalty..
. You put a child in a position of being responsible for your welfare,” Judge Fiona Todd said in her sentencing remarks. The offending continued for months until Russell-Keely’s girlfriend reported him to police after uncovering messages between him and the student in Au.