Jail for Aussie tennis coach

2004-08-06 14:13

Melbourne - A court has jailed Australian international tennis coach Gavin Hopper for three-and-a-half years on Friday after he was found guilty of having a sexual relationship with a schoolgirl 19 years ago.

Victorian County Court Judge Graeme Crossley said Hopper, 48, would have to serve two years and three months of the sentence without parole.

Crossley said Hopper, who pleaded not guilty to the charges, had shown "absolutely no remorse whatsoever" while his victim, now aged 33, "suffered very considerably".

A jury on Monday found Hopper guilty of three counts of indecent assault and six of gross indecency after the woman told how she had had a three-year sexual relationship with Hopper from January 1985, when she was 14.

He was then a physical education teacher at Melbourne's Wesley College, which she was attending.

Hopper has consistently denied a relationship took place and has indicated his intention to appeal his conviction.

Crossley told Hopper: "As a trained teacher and as an educated man, you must have had some understanding of the possible, perhaps even probable, consequences of your actions, on the future emotional health of a young adolescent girl."

"Your behaviour was a gross breach of the trust of the entire Wesley College community as well as of the parents and family of your young victim and the victim herself."

Hopper has coached tennis stars Mark Philippoussis, Monica Seles and Wally Masur, among others. More recently he ran a Gold Coast tennis academy with Pat Cash.

- AFP