As a teenager in a small WA regional town, Emily Bonser had the world at her feet.
Key points:
- Emily Bonser was sexually abused by teacher Leith Woods
- This week, Woods was sentenced to more than four years in jail
- Emily wants to tell her story to help others in a similar situation
She was an exceptionally talented sportswoman, and at the age of just 15 had been selected for the state hockey team.
Her love of sport was fostered and encouraged at her high school in the Wheatbelt town of Northam, where in 2010 Leith Dianne Woods — then in her early 30s — began work as a physical education teacher.
Like Emily, Woods was a talented and high achieving sportswoman, and through that shared interest, they spent a lot of time together.
But in Emily’s final year of school, Woods grossly abused her trusted position to abuse the teenager.
Woods has now been jailed and Emily wants to tell her story — to reclaim her life and, most importantly, try to help anyone else who is, or has been, in her position.
‘I felt guilt and shame’
Emily was just 16 and in year 12 at Northam High School when the sexual abuse happened.
While Woods did not actually teach her that year, she coached sporting teams Emily was on.
They played hockey together and travelled to and from training sessions and games.
The abuse started on a sporting trip to Albany when Emily and Woods were play fighting on a bed.
In the following days, Emily sent Woods a text message. As a student, she felt she needed to apologise to the teacher “for putting her in that position”.
But Woods replied: “I don’t regret it.”
Emily now realises she had nothing to apologise for.
“I felt guilt and shame that that occurred, and I felt bad and I apologised,” she said.
“I knew it was wrong, but being told they didn’t regret it, was something that made it all confusing.”
What followed was a secret sexual relationship that continued throughout Emily’s final year of school.
It continued — again in secret — for another five years, but it was not until 2021, when Emily was in her 20s, that she realised that how the relationship started was wrong, and she needed to report it to police.
Woods was finally held to account earlier this month in WA’s District Court, when she was convicted of seven offences of abusing a child over 16 “under her care, supervision or authority”.
Confronting abuse head on
Northam is a town in the Avon Valley about 97 kilometres from Perth, with a population of around 12,000
Emily believes many people in relatively small community are aware of what happened, and she now wants to put it on the public record.
“I’m the type of person who likes to run into the storm,” she said.
“I think a lot of people are aware of the situation and know that it occurred and know it’s me.
“I feel that coming out and saying that is the case is a good way for me to move forward, knowing that it’s out there.
“People may talk about it for a few weeks but then I move on with my life — [I’m] also taking a strong stance that being young and vulnerable is okay.”
Emily’s also keen to rebuild her relationship with her family.
She said the secret at the heart of what happened to her caused her to distance herself from them.
“I had not wanted them to know, because that person became almost a family friend and someone that my family thought was supporting me,” she said.
“I isolated myself from them, so that I wasn’t breaking their hearts or having to lie to them.
“Distancing and isolating myself was a really big aspect of keeping that secret and shame within.”
Emily has now reconnected with her family and has surrounded herself with what she calls a “supportive ecosystem” of people.
Career ambitions derailed
After she left school Emily studied to be a teacher — something she knew she wanted to do from a young age.
She also tried to pursue her sporting talent.
Initially signed by the Dockers AFLW side, in 2020 she was given a two-year contract with the inaugural West Coast Eagles team.
However, the abuse she suffered meant she had to abandon both, leaving West Coast after just a year, and quitting teaching at the same time, during her first year in the job.
it was a during this time, Emily says, that Woods finally acknowledged that she had abused her.
“Being exposed to children who were the same age as me at the time … and thinking ‘those children are so young, vulnerable’, that really got to me because it made me understand, seeing them every day, that was me, and these kids are just so precious,” she said.
“And being a physical education teacher, that’s been a big hurdle to get over, with being in the same environment,”
Emily is currently on extended leave from her job, but she hopes to resume her career.
Athletes ‘more vulnerable’
Talking openly about what happened to her is something Emily hopes will help others.
“I honestly feel as if I want to open the conversation and allow people to approach and ask questions because I think that’s education,” she said.
“It does happen … there are signs, and we as a community, the strong people around the children, have the ability to stop it from happening.”
Emily is particularly concerned about young athletes, because of the amount of time they spend with their teachers and coaches.
“I think there’s a lot of public interest in understanding and knowing that young elite athletes are more vulnerable,” she said.
“Being in a role where children look up to you, whether it be support staff or a coach, children and athletes want to do what they can to be the best they can, and that’s why they’re so easily swayed.
“Especially with that extra time, being allowed to have one on one with athletes is a really dangerous space.
“There’s a lot of weight to that and I want to bring that kind of aspect of understanding.”
Abuse a ‘gross breach of trust’
It has taken two years for Woods’ case to progress through the court system.
Earlier this month, the now 42-year-old pleaded guilty to six sex abuse charges but denied a further seven, necessitating a trial.
Her lawyer argued some of alleged abuse, on school organised trips, just did not happen, because Woods regarded those events as off limits because of the risk of being caught.
After a four-day hearing, the jury acquitted her of all but one of the seven counts.
Woods was sentenced to four years and four months jail, with Judge John Prior telling her the crimes “involved a gross breach of trust.”
“The public expect that children who are in the custody of teachers, both on and off the school campus, will not be subject to physical, sexual or psychological abuse,” he said.
“Teachers occupy a position of trust and authority …. the community relies on teachers for the proper education, guidance and instruction of children, and most teachers, the vast majority of them, understand that is their role.”
Now that she’s an adult, Emily says she fully understands that what happened was wrong, and while she will have to emotionally and mentally manage the abuse for the rest of her life, she’s looking forward to moving on.
“I’ve carried that for the last 11 years and with the sentencing occurring, I’ve been able to shift that guilty and shame over, and I don’t carry that anymore,” she said.
“Coming to terms with what happened to me, I realised that I was very vulnerable and young an impressionable at the time — there is nothing wrong with that.”