April 24, 2026 — 5:27pm
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An alert bus driver spotted a Melbourne teacher molesting a student in her rear-view mirror during a school excursion.
The female driver confronted teacher Justin Marks after the journey with students from Tarneit P-9 College in Melbourne’s outer west in late 2024, sparking a police investigation that saw him charged.
The bus driver reported Marks to police and the school.Tammy Law
The County Court of Victoria heard the woman accused Marks of touching the student under a blue towel, while seated near the front of the bus.
“I just witnessed everything that happened on the bus, all the way back to here,” she told Marks after they returned to the school.
Marks responded with: “What of it?”
The driver asked if that was all he had to say, and walked off. She then asked her bosses to check the security footage on board and, after reviewing it, the company contacted the school and Triple Zero.
Marks was confronted by the principal and claimed he was “just making sure [the student] was okay” because she couldn’t swim at the park.
The teacher was told to leave school grounds and the following day police raided his home and arrested him.
He admitted touching the student on the bus, said he should have known better, and he “will regret it for the rest of his life”.
Marks told police nothing similar happened before, but it later emerged it was not the first time he assaulted the child.
The court heard an analysis of electronic devices used by Marks and the student uncovered 8500 messages on an encrypted app and 6000 messages and notifications on a Bluetooth bracelet between them over six weeks.
Justin Marks pleaded guilty in the County Court to sexual penetration of a child.Darrian Traynor
On Friday, Marks, 34, pleaded guilty in the County Court of Victoria to 12 charges committed over two months, including sexual assault of a child and three counts of sexual penetration of a child.
Prosecutors told the court Marks became close with the girl when she confided in him about her anxiety. She began to think of him less as a teacher and more of a friend, the court was told.
Over the course of a year, conversations between the pair intensified; and by the end of the year they met alone in areas of the school campus where the sexual assaults took place.
But the court heard a water park excursion – attended by the student cohort, Marks and other teachers – uncovered his crimes.
Marks met the girl in the bathrooms and assaulted her as she lay on a towel on the floor. He later attacked her again on the bus, where he was caught.
The girl told the court she would never fully recover from what happened to her.
“It lingers like gas in the air, hanging in a cloud wherever I go,” she said.
It was made worse when people at the school questioned her about the incidents, after Marks was dismissed.
The girl said Marks’ crimes left her feeling “filthy” and she was never going to be able to erase what happened to her.
“I was so deeply manipulated that my mind could not cope,” she told the court.
“I knew that what he was doing to me was wrong, but I was so deeply, deeply in his grasp that I couldn’t bring myself to do the right thing.”
Marks’ lawyer told the court they were still waiting for him to undergo assessment by a psychologist, and would address the court after it was carried out.
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Caroline Schelle is an education reporter, and joined The Age in 2022. She previously covered courts at AAP.Connect via X or email.From our partners