A teacher made a “naked attempt to garner sympathy” by taking to court a baby cap that belonged to a child of one of the teenagers she is accused of having sex with, a court heard.
Rebecca Joynes continues to deny allegations that she had sex with one student, Boy A, and insists to the court that her relationship with a second teenager, Boy B, only began after he left school and she was fired from her job – so it was not illegal.
The 30-year-old appeared in Manchester Crown Court today with a pink baby hat visibly tucked into his pants.
It belonged to the son she had with boy B.
Speaking about the baby hat, prosecutor Joe Allman told the jury in his closing speech: “That was a pretty blatant attempt to garner your sympathy.”
He said jurors would not have a “scrap” of sympathy for the teacher if she were male, and added: “She is aware of the optics here.
“She’s not stupid. Is Miss Joynes smarter than she looks?”
Jurors heard that both boys sent seductive Snapchat messages to Joynes and hid the interactions from their parents.
It was alleged she took Boy A shopping and bought him a £350 Gucci belt before they returned to Joynes’ flat in Salford Quays where they had sex, the court was told.
The teenager’s semen was recovered from her sheets by police.
Boy B claims the sexual activity began when he was 15, with kissing and full sex when he was 16 – and still a student.
Joynes denies six charges of sexual activity with a child, including two while a person in a position of trust.
Allman said Boy B was accused of “gassing” Joynes during their relationship when she became pregnant.
He asked: “Who is being gaslit and who is doing the gaslighting?
“What’s happening here is: She expects you to treat her very differently because she is a woman and not a man, and you will view this case differently because she is a woman and not a man?”
He also questioned whether the boys would have been “disparaged in the same way in an attempt to discredit them if they were two girls of the same age.”
Instead, he said, if Rebecca Joynes had been “Robert” Joynes, and the complainants had been girls, Mr. Allman asserted that it would not have been suggested that the boys were “ready for it” or that they wanted sex “because that would have been quite obscene.” “.
“This has the effect of distorting the image, so she almost becomes the victim and the boys become the perpetrators,” he added.
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He asked the jury of seven men and five women to imagine “Robert”, a 28-year-old professor, fresh from a nine-year relationship, lonely, handsome, to whom female students pay a lot of attention, flattering and making inappropriate comments .
The prosecutor described a scenario in which the teacher exchanges Snapchat messages, buys a £350 belt for a girl and takes her back to his flat, while a second teenage girl becomes pregnant by “Robert”.
“Do you have any questions about what happened here?” Allman said.
“You wouldn’t have a shred of sympathy for Robert. This thought experiment brings out Miss Joynes’ defense.”
Michael O’Brien, in his closing speech for the defense, said Boy A lied about what happened between him and Joynes, while Boy B “put the boot” while being interviewed by detectives.
While meeting students outside of school was wrong, he said, it was not a crime.
The trial continues with the jury expected to retire on Thursday morning.
This story originally appeared on News.sky.com read the full story
