Knox Grammar drama teacher on trial over alleged grooming in online sting

A former drama teacher at Knox Grammar School is standing trial in Sydney on a charge of procuring a child under 16 for sex, after prosecutors say he engaged in explicit online chats with a person posing as a minor.

William Roberto Gulson, 28, testified at Downing Centre Local Court that he did not intentionally search for child abuse material and could not recall typing terms such as 'gay child porn' on his phone. He suggested autocomplete or search-fill features could have produced the terms, telling the prosecutor that he never wanted to search for such material and that he could be mistaken about what appeared on his device. “You think it’s possible that a search engine would have suggested an illegal term as an autocomplete term?” prosecutor Jessica Chan pressed. “I may have typed that, I don’t remember this event occurring,” Gulson replied, adding that he “never wanted to search for that.” He also denied that his internet history showed a sexual interest in minors, saying, “Look at anyone’s phone. I’m sure lots of people type in eyebrow-raising searches.”

Gulson faced the contested hearing after pleading not guilty to procuring a child under 16 for sex. The charge arises from a sexual conversation on a dating app in which he connected with a person posing as a 15-year-old girl, simulating a boy. The court was told the Grindr exchange continued for more than 40 minutes after Gulson was told the other person was school-aged. The fake profile claimed the other person was in year 9 before sending Gulson a photo of an erect penis; a later message stated the age was 15. Gulson testified that he believed the user was an adult male using the site and that he never believed he was conversing with a child.

“I believed I was dealing with an adult male that was using the site,” Gulson told the court. The former drama teacher, who has taught at Knox Grammar on Sydney’s upper north shore and conducted private tutoring, said he would not engage with someone he believed to be a minor and described the exchange as a potential attempt by a “wacko adult” to pretend they were a child.

The charge stems from the interaction after Gulson persisted with the explicit chat for more than 40 minutes, despite being told the other person was school-aged. The online profile on Grindr—the adults-only LGBTQI hook-up app—purported to be in the 20s, not the teens. The defense pressed that the person on the other end was misrepresenting themselves, while the prosecution argued that even if the other party intended to misrepresent their age, the conduct remained a breach of the law prohibiting a adult from seeking sexual contact with a minor.

The case also involved the broader context of a sting operation conducted by a 15-year-old girl and another teenager, who were running the fake Grindr profile to catch pedophiles. Photos from the fake profile were presented to the court as evidence that Gulson had an interest in engaging with someone he believed to be a child. Gulson said he had a procedure for saving images he wished to meet so he could verify identity through a reverse image search, though prosecutors said no reference to any reverse image search results appeared in the 484,000 pages of data recovered from his phone.

Gulson’s lawyer, Paul Glissan, argued there was no case to answer because the children engaging with him had no intention of meeting him in person. “The child who was doing the chatting was actually enticing the defendant,” Glissan said. Prosecutor Jessica Chan countered that the question of the other person’s intent was not dispositive and that the charge focused on Gulson’s conduct.

Gulson taught at Knox Grammar, a private school with annual fees reported to reach up to about $43,170 per student, underscoring the profile of a widely known institution in Sydney’s elite education circuit. The school did not comment publicly in relation to the case beyond noting its existence under disciplinary and legal processes. The hearings at Downing Centre Local Court continue as prosecutors and defense lawyers present their evidence and cross-examine witnesses.

The timeline centers on events beginning in September 2024, when Gulson was charged, and the current week’s contested hearing, with the court’s proceedings closely tracking the details of the Grindr exchange, the alleged online searches, and the alleged intent behind the communications. No verdict has been delivered, and the trial is proceeding with further testimony anticipated as the defense and prosecution outline their respective arguments.

The case has drawn attention to the legal thresholds for addressing online interactions with minors and the complexities of online anonymity and misrepresentation in sting operations. As proceedings continue, judges will weigh whether Gulson’s actions meet the statutory definition of procuring a child under 16 for unlawful sexual activity, and whether the evidence supports a conviction beyond a reasonable doubt.