Oz woman pleads guilty to having sex with 14-year-old boy

LONDON - A 24-year-old Australian woman has pleaded guilty to sleeping with 14-year-old boy she was meant to be driving to school.

Kimberly Annette Gale, from Hillside in Victoria, confessed two counts of sexual penetration of a child under 16 after embarking on a relationship with the teenager earlier this year.

The woman had met the boy - and his mother - at a football club, and having heard that he was having trouble getting to school, offered to provide lifts.

Gale drove the boy to school every morning for three to four weeks and got into intimate during that time.

On one occasion, she drove him to her family’s home and the pair had sex before she dropped him to the school. The act was repeated after two weeks.

When the school contacted the mother to say her son had been late several times, she was puzzled and contacted Gale who said she had been stuck in traffic.

The mother told her she would make alternative arrangements for her son and confiscated his mobile phone.

Gale then texted the boy’s phone, saying she missed him. After the mother responded ‘really?’ she sent another telling him she loved him.

Confronted by his mother, the boy broke down and admitted the relationship.

The defence lawyer, Amy Wood, told Judge Sue Pullen her client had endured a difficult childhood and the attention of the boy, plus moving back home to live with her mother and stepfather, had made her feel ‘like she was 16 again’.

Wood said her client knew the relationship was wrong but had become ‘blinded’ by the attention the boy had given her.

“What we have here is a 23-year-old woman and a 14-year-old boy and she knew what she was doing was wrong,” The Daily Mail quoted Judge Pullen as saying.

The plea hearing has been adjourned to December 15 for a psychiatric assessment of Gale, who was remanded in custody. (ANI)