North Shore teacher sentenced to home detention for sexual grooming and misconduct

Name suppression has been lifted on a former North Shore primary school teacher who was today sentenced to home detention for sexual grooming and misconduct involving two underage boys.

Michael James Dobbyn, 52, has today been sentenced to 12 months home detention and 250 hours community work for four charges against two boys who were aged 10 and 12 when the first offences took place.

The charges were two of sexual conduct with a young person under 16, and two of meeting a young person under the age of 16 following sexual grooming.

Dressed in a black jacket sports jacket and business pants, Dobbyn shook and clutched onto beams supporting the dock at the North Shore District Court.

The conditions of his sentence are that he does not interact with anyone under the age of 16, the victims, or their families.

He is not allowed to leave his home except to attend doctors or counselling appointments and must complete a Safe course for sex offenders.

He has also been ordered not to go to shops between 3pm and 7pm.

Crown prosecutor Kate Mills said in court that a board of trustees member of the school where Dobbyn used to teach have received a number of complaints from parents who have seen Dobbyn ”hanging out at a shopping centre near the school”.

The court heard that some of the offending took place in the carpark of a supermarket and near a shopping centre.

The charges each carry a maximum penalty of seven years imprisonment, but Judge Lawrence Hinton ordered a lesser sentence so Dobbyn could care for his elderly mother.

An affidavit from her read that he was her only son and had been living with her for 18 years, and without him she could not carry out household chores, the court heard.