Teacher, 51, Admits Grooming 15-Year-Old Schoolboy After Weight-Loss Pill Increased Her S*x Drive

A teacher, 51, claims she groomed a 15-year-old schoolboy after a weight-loss drug dramatically increased her sex drive.

Jackie Mary Hays was working as a support staff member at a school in Sydney, Australia, when she targeted the teenage student.

Hays claimed she began taking the weight-loss drug Duromine four months before she started grooming the boy.

She pleaded guilty to grooming the boy for sexual activity between April 2015 and June 2016.

At Newcastle Local Court on Wednesday, Hays' Legal Aid defence lawyer Gillian Jewison asked for the case to be dealt with under the Mental Health Act.

Ms Jewison said the drug may have altered her sex drive and affected her state of the mind.

The court also heard Hays suffered from a borderline personality disorder.

Magistrate Robert Stone said there was no medical link between the drug and Hays' behaviour.

The only evidence was from a psychological report completed by the defence in which some of Hays' friends "observed she was off the planet" after taking the drug.

Ms Jewison said Hays' crime was at the lower end of the scale but Mr Ogilvy disagreed and said she tried to get the boy to sneak out at night.

Mr Ogilvy urged the magistrate to jail Hays given she was 47 when she started to send explicit messages to the teen.

Mr Stone gave numerous reasons why the case could not be dealt with under mental health provisions.

He said: "The issue is whether proceedings will produce a better outcome for individual and the community.

"I do not consider a dismissal is warranted because of the serious nature of offence.

"There is an issue of deterrence. In general terms, the community would expect better from people who work at school with children."

Mr Stone also said he could not consider a non-custodial sentence.
"She knew it was inappropriate, she knew it was illegal to have sex with the boy," he said.

"I think it breaches the threshold, and she is not eligible for an intensive corrections order."

Hays faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.