Kylie Fiona Henry outside the District Court. Source: News Corp Australia
A WOMAN who had sex with a teenage boy has been acquitted of rape but found guilty by a jury of unlawful sexual intercourse.
This afternoon, a District Court jury of five men and seven women took 30 minutes to find Kylie Fiona Henry not guilty of raping a boy, 15, on her loungeroom floor in April 2011.
However, they found her guilty of the lesser offence of having unlawful sexual intercourse with her victim.
Henry, who appeared relieved when the rape verdict was announced, wiped tears from her eyes when she was found guilty of the alternative charge.
By its verdict, the jury agreed the mother-of-three had forced herself on the boy, who was sleeping at her house with his siblings, after he had performed gardening work for her.
Henry had denied the allegation, saying the only sexual contact between her and the boy that night occurred "in a dream".
At trial, prosecutors alleged Henry, a former primary school canteen manager, straddled the boy and, when he told her to stop and struggled to push her off, threatened him.
They alleged the boy, who had no sexual experience, managed to push Henry away after a "brief encounter".
The boy's mother gave evidence that she first heard about the incident involving her son when Henry told her she had lost her job at the school.
The mother said Henry blamed another woman - who allegedly claimed she had "f**ked" her son - for her dismissal.
"I asked her why (the other woman) would do this because Henry informed me that (the other woman) was a friend of hers," she said.
"She said 'I don't know' and I said: 'Why would she say that you have f**ked my son? He is 15 for God's sake'."
The mother said Henry denied the allegation and so she told her to lodge a claim for unfair dismissal.
She said she checked her son's Facebook page and found private messages between him and Henry.
The mother said she and a friend drove to Henry's house to confront her after her son admitted what had happened more than a year after the incident.
"I was a mess," she said. "I said 'I know the truth, (my son) has told me. Have you got something to tell me?'.
"(Henry) looked at me blankly and I said 'I know you f**ked my son. Did it happen?'.
"She said 'yes' and I looked at her and she goes 'Well, that's what you wanted to hear, wasn't it?'."
The mother said she punched Henry in the face and began yelling and screaming.
In his evidence, the boy's stepfather said he became infuriated after learning about the Facebook messages between Henry and his stepson.
"I said that I thought she was a paedophile, that she was grooming (his stepson), guilt-tripping him and that I thought she was a sexual predator," he said.
The stepfather said the boy gave him a detailed account of what happened, including the threats made by Henry.
Two of Henry's co-workers gave evidence that Henry said she would have sex with the boy if he was a couple of years older.
"Kylie went on to tell me that if (the boy) was older she would f**k him," one co-worker said.
A second co-worker said Henry had told another co-worker "I would f**k him if he was a couple of years older".
The co-worker said she had written down the comment.
Henry took the stand in her own defence.
She said the only sex that had occurred on the night of the alleged incident happened in her mind.
"I dreamed that (the boy) and I were on the mattress together and that he was kissing me very passionately ... I dreamt that he got on top of me and that we had sex," she said.
"My first reaction (upon waking) was 'oh, that was a good dream' and then I realised who it was and then I thought 'that is disgusting, that's just wrong' ... I felt guilty and embarrassed."
By its verdict today, the jury rejected her evidence as a defence to the charge of unlawful sexual intercourse.
Judge Paul Cuthbertson remanded Henry on continuing bail to face sentencing submissions in February.
