Illawarra teacher found not guilty of raping student in classroom

After hearing a week of evidence, it took the jury a day and a half of deliberations to deliver its verdict at Wollongong District Court on Wednesday.

Keith William Eshman, a one-time Wests Tigers player and former army medic, was found not guilty of three counts of sexual intercourse with a child under 10 and one count of sexually touching a child under 10.

The jury could not come to a unanimous verdict on a fifth charge of sexually touching a child under 10 relating to an incident in which Eshman, 37, was accused of grabbing the complainant's hand and putting it on his crotch.

Following Eshman's arrest, police found Google searches on his iPhone and MacBook after a student disclosed allegations to her mother that the teacher sexually touched her in the classroom.

Among the internet inquiries included whether a young girl can orgasm, the definition of paedophilia, and sexual behaviours after grooming.

Eshman's defence barrister Brendan Green argued these searches were "completely plausible" after Eshman became concerned with the student touching herself in class.

However in closing addresses on Monday, Crown prosecutor Nerissa Keay said: "What he was searching on his phone was a curiosity about the very things he was doing."

During the trial, the prosecution alleged Eshman had sexually touched the complainant's vagina and "licked" her private parts in a "secret corner" of a classroom.

Eshman repeatedly denied the allegations against him when he took to the witness stand last week, stating he never touched the student.

He has been acquitted of four charges.

The DPP may elect to retry Eshman on the fifth charge, with the matter to be mentioned later this month.