PREDATORY & CALCULATED: FORMER WA TEACHER LOSES APPEAL AGAINST 7 YEAR, 9 MONTH SENTENCE

A former Western Australian teacher who pleaded guilty to 25 child sex offences involving four girls has lost his bid to reduce his prison sentence.

The WA Court of Appeal today dismissed Harry Sing Wan Lagdon’s sentence appeal, leaving his total effective sentence of seven years and nine months unchanged.

Lagdon was working as an art teacher at a regional high school when some of the offending occurred.

Fifteen offences involved a student from his art class who was aged 15 or 16. The offending continued for about 18 months and included incidents on school grounds, as well as explicit messages, images and videos.

The remaining offences involved online communications with three girls aged 12 or 13 who lived in Queensland. The court found Lagdon had pretended to be a teenage boy and sent numerous explicit and degrading messages. He also persuaded one girl to send him sexual images.

THE APPEAL

Lagdon appealed on the grounds that a four year sentence imposed for one sexual penetration offence was manifestly excessive and that his overall sentence breached the totality principle.

The Court of Appeal granted him permission to argue two grounds but ultimately rejected both.

WHAT THE COURT FOUND

In its judgment, the court described the offending as “predatory and calculated” and said the sentence, while firm, was not unreasonable or unjust.

The judges also rejected submissions relying on the purportedly consensual nature of Lagdon’s relationship with the student.

The court said it was not meaningful to describe a child under a teacher’s care, supervision or authority as a willing participant because of the imbalance of power and trust within the relationship.

It found Lagdon’s offending was more serious than comparable teacher cases because it involved multiple victims, conduct on school grounds, a large volume of explicit communications and deception about his age.

Lagdon received a 25 per cent sentencing reduction for his guilty pleas. The court found his demonstrated remorse and insight were limited.

His sentence remains backdated to 23 June 2024, and he remains eligible for parole.

Anyone affected by child sexual abuse can contact Bravehearts on 1800 272 831 for information and support 💜