A former St Edmund's College teacher accused of grooming and indecently assaulting a vulnerable student in the early 1980s has denied any wrongdoing, saying he had never heard of some of the things he was accused of.
An ACT Supreme Court jury is considering 12 charges against Garry Leslie Marsh, 72, after the alleged victim, who was 13 at the time, complained to police in 2014.
Marsh was first accused in the 1980s when the victim complained to his mother, who then alerted the school.
He told the court he was sacked by his principal and escorted from the school.
Marsh told the court the principal had to explain some of what he was accused of, because he said he had "never heard of it before".
"He said for the sake of the school it would be in the best interests I left," Marsh said.
"I was escorted out of school to my car."
The jury heard the offences were committed on several occasions, culminating in a serious attack at his home when the alleged victim was sleeping over.
Prosecutor Jane Campbell put to Marsh that on one occasion he had touched the boy inappropriately when he was hurt in the groin in a football game, seizing on the opportunity to exercise his sexual attraction.
Marsh scoffed at the suggestion.
"In the middle of a football field, in front of people, you think I am going to be sexually attracted to someone?" he replied.
"Definitely not."
Ms Campbell said the victim gave a harrowing account of the worst attack.
"He said he was screaming, trying to get away," she said.
Ms Campbell told the jury they should not read anything into the fact the alleged victim did not complain about the incident again until 2014, when he went to police.
"What's important is that he did speak up, he spoke up at the time," she said.
The court heard the complaint was prompted in part by the royal commission into child sexual abuse and the fact the alleged victim's son had reached the age of 13, at which age he said he had been assaulted.
The jury retired to consider its verdict.
