A high school teacher who admitted to grooming a 15-year-old male student and performing a sexual act on him has had her prison sentence quashed, but lost her bid to keep her name suppressed.
Auckland teacher Myah Leanie Adams, 27, was initially sentenced to two years and one month in prison earlier this year, Stuff reported.
Adams had leaded guilty to a charge of sexual conduct with a young person under 16 in 2023, when Adams was 25.
According to court documents, Adams had initiated contact with the student on Snapchat.
She began grooming him through flirtatious messages, compliments on his appearance, and gifts, including vapes and access to her credit card.
She also removed him from school after detention to take him for haircuts.
In September 2023, Adams drove the teen to a secluded car park where she kissed him and performed a sexual act.
She later urged him to keep the incident secret and began sending him nude photos via Snapchat.
Myah Leanie Adams (pictured) groomed and sexually abused 15-year-old male student
Later that month, she took him to the cinema, provided him with alcoholic drinks, and again engaged in sexual contact, both during the film and afterwards, in the same carpark.
According to victim impact statements read to the court, the boy became disengaged from school and suffered emotional and psychological distress as a result of the abuse
At sentencing, Judge Brooke Gibson described the case as a ‘serious breach of trust,’ emphasizing Adams’ position as a teacher and the vulnerability of the student.
He rejected her lawyer’s request for home detention.
‘You are a teacher, and I think that is a significant aggravating factor… Deterrence, denunciation and accountability require a sentence of imprisonment in your case,’ he said.
Adams sobbed in court as the prison sentence was handed down.
The sentence was appealed to the High Court.
In his decision, Justice Gerard van Bohemen agreed the original sentence was ‘manifestly excessive’ and quashed the prison term, replacing it with 10 months’ home detention.
The Waikato Uni graduate appealed her jail sentence, and will now serve 10 months in home detention
Her lawyer Emma Priest argued the offending was limited to two sexual encounters over three weeks, that Adams was remorseful, and that the age gap between her and the victim was smaller than in other cases.
She also cited Adams’ low risk of reoffending and her offer of reparation as mitigating factors.
Justice van Bohemen accepted that imprisonment would have a disproportionate impact on Adams’ young daughter and ruled that she did not meet the threshold for inclusion on the Child Sex Offenders Register.
‘I am satisfied Ms Adams does not pose a risk to the victim or other children,’ he said.
However, Adams’ bid for permanent name suppression was denied. The court ruled that the public interest in identifying her outweighed any potential hardship.
‘The public interest is not diminished by Adams leaving the teaching profession,’ the judge noted, adding that her name would remain public and no further appeal would be filed.
