State Opera of South Australia's Former Artistic Director Charged With Sexual Abuse of Three Teens

The former artistic director of the State Opera of South Australia is currently facing a child sex trial, Yahoo! News reports.

Timothy Sexton has gone on trial in the District Court, and has been charged with abusing three teenagers while working as a music teacher in Adelaide between 1989 and 1993.

He pled not guilty to offenses including maintaining an unlawful sexual relationship with a child, unlawful sexual intercourse and indecent assault.

Prosecutor Carmen Matteo said that the girls were "beguiled" by their teacher.

"Each girl admired the accused musically and as a teacher and on the prosecution case, he would have known that," Matteo said. "Each girl had a crush on him and on the prosecution case, he would have known that too. They flirted with the young, handsome Mr Sexton and it is the prosecution case he returned that attention."

Matteo said that the alleged victims were willing participants due to their infatuation, but they were still teenage girls under the age of legal consent.

Sexton, who was also the state opera's chief executive, stepped down from his roles in 2017. He had been with the company since 2011.

Read more on Yahoo! News.

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