Teacher filmed sex act with teen student and shared it on messaging app

A teacher at a school in Melbourne’s west filmed a sex act with a teenage student and shared the video on a messaging app.

Troy Ollis, 34, was a teacher at MacKillop College in Werribee when he was intercepted by Australian Border Force officers on return to Australia from a family holiday in Africa. The officers uncovered the material on his mobile phone.

Ollis pleaded guilty to nine charges in the Victorian County Court on Monday, including sexual penetration of a 16-year-old under his care or supervision, intentionally producing child abuse material and possessing child abuse material.

MacKillop College in Werribee. Credit: Justin McManus

The court heard that Ollis had taught the student, and they became close and started to communicate via the school email system.

They stayed in contact, meeting one on one at the school. Ollis told her she was his most promising student.

The pair would speak via messaging apps and have conversations on Google Docs, which Ollis would then delete. He bought the victim a phone so they could keep their communications concealed from her parents.

The offending, which included acts involving strangulation and the use of a sex toy, occurred at various locations over three months including in Ollis’ car, a hotel and at his home. He would frequently film the victim and take photographs of her naked.

When Border Force discovered the material on January 14, Ollis told them “my life is over now, isn’t it?”

The court heard Ollis was found to have shared child abuse material of the victim on WhatsApp to a third party and boasted that he had more in his possession.

The content had been sent during Ollis’ trip to Tanzania, with his wife and child, the court heard, and the recipient of the message had a number linked to Kenya.

Officials found Ollis was a member of various Telegram chat groups that had child abuse material on them.

Prosecutor Deanna Caruso told the court the victim had saved multiple conversations between herself and Ollis that were sexually abusive.

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Defence lawyer Belinda Franjic said her client was remorseful “not just for the suffering that has beset Mr Ollis’ wife and will beset their child, but also for what he’s put the victim through”. She highlighted the extensive work Ollis had done with a counsellor since his arrest.

Ollis had been employed at the school since July 2022 until the time of his arrest.

The plea hearing before Judge Paul Highman is due to continue later this month.

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