A family's no-cellphone policy on the dining table led investigators to discover an "inappropriate relationship" between a 15-year-old and his drama teacher, police will allege in court.
Ella Clements, a 24-year-old drama teacher at St Augustine's College, Brookvale, was arrested on September 16 and this week faced court charged with a number of sex offences against one of her students.
The father of the victim, who has not been identified, allegedly discovered text messages between Clements and his 15-year-old son as the boy's phone sat on the dining room table.
Clements is now facing three counts of aggravated sexual intercourse with a child between 14 and 16 years old, and intentionally sexually touching a child between 10 and 16, two weeks after she was arrested following allegations she engaged in an "inappropriate relationship" with a student in her care.
Clements had worked at the Catholic school for at least a year before the allegations came to light. Clements studied to be a drama teacher at the University of Notre Dame after serving as drama captain in her final year at Brigidine College St Ives, an all-girls Catholic secondary school.
She performed in several musicals while at Brigidine, including the lead in a school production of Animal Farm, and had been invited back to the school in the years since her 2018 graduation to assist students with their drama performances.
On Monday, she was initially granted bail by the magistrate on conditions including a $100,000 surety, not having any contact with staff or students at the college, not using a smartphone or social media, living at an address in the state's Northern Rivers with her parents, not leaving home between 9pm and 5am, and reporting to police every Sunday.
However, the prosecutor applied for the decision to be stayed – effectively pausing Clements' release – pending a detention hearing in the Supreme Court, which will take place on Thursday morning.
