A year ago PE teacher Tayla was celebrating her dream wedding: Now she has been accused of doing the unthinkable with two students
Tayla Brailey should really have been looking forward to celebrating her first wedding anniversary next month.
On September 30, 2023, loved ones gathered at The Grange Golf Club in Wollongong to watch the bride and groom exchange their vows.
Photos from their wedding show the couple beaming with joy as they popped the bubbly and shared a romantic kiss during their first dance.
But instead of happy memories, the anniversary will only be a bitter reminder of how drastically their lives have changed since then.
The 30-year-old physical education teacher is accused of sexually abusing two male students – aged between 16 and 17 – who met the students while working at Lurnea High School in Sydney’s south-west.
Police allege the sexual assaults occurred multiple times in July, including at her marital home in West Wollongong.
On August 6, she was arrested for her first alleged victim and charged with sexual abuse, sexual intercourse with a person in her care, and aggravated sexual assault.
The next day she appeared in Liverpool District Court, where she was granted bail on strict conditions. She was ordered to move out of the apartment she shared with her husband and live with her parents in another suburb of Wollongong.
Tayla Brailey, 30, is pictured with her husband on her wedding day
The photo shows The Grange Golf Club in Wollongong, where the couple married in September
The venue is priced as a premium wedding venue and can accommodate receptions from 50 to 250 guests
A little over a week later, on Friday at 7 a.m., police went to her parents’ house and arrested her on suspicion of involvement with a second male student.
She was taken to Wollongong Police Station and charged with six new charges, including sexual intercourse with a teenager in her care, sexually touching a teenager in her care and inciting a teenager in her care to sexually touch her.
She was also charged with soliciting, accessing and possessing or controlling child abuse material.
Brailey’s latest case was heard in Wollongong Local Court on Friday. Police initially refused her bail, but the magistrate re-granted her.
The same strict conditions imposed last week remain in place. For example, she can only leave the house if accompanied by a parent, she must adhere to a curfew from 9 p.m. to 7 a.m., and she must report to the police three times a week.
She is also prohibited from using social media, entering Lurnea, contacting her alleged victims or the prosecution’s witnesses, attending educational institutions, and being in the presence of a minor unless the child is accompanied by a parent or guardian.
Her husband has been supportive despite the allegations. He attended her first court appearance last week, but chose to remain in the lobby rather than sit in the courtroom as the charges were laid out.
Outside the courtroom, Brailey’s parents and her husband were seen hugging and comforting each other as they cried.
During last week’s hearing, the court heard that the first boy added Brailey on Snapchat in early July, before the pair allegedly began exchanging sexually explicit photos and videos.
Brailey is pictured with her mother as they picked up her wedding dress last June
Brailey is pictured with her chickens in Bali, ahead of her wedding last September
In the weeks that followed, Brailey allegedly invited the first boy to her home and performed sexual acts on him, which the boy’s friend witnessed. She also allegedly had sex with him in the backseat of a car while he was wagging his tail to school.
She then allegedly drove to a pharmacy and bought the morning-after pill.
According to documents cited in court, when confronted by detectives about the allegations, Brailey allegedly became “hysterical” and said, “I’m going to jail, right? I’m going to lose my family, my husband, my job.”
Brailey got engaged to her husband in December 2021 and celebrated her bachelorette party with friends and family in Bali last June.
Three months later, she tied the knot in front of her loved ones, wearing a Jane Hill dress (retail price around AUD 5,800) and a diamond-studded headband.
Social media posts show Brailey picking up her wedding dress with her mother ahead of the wedding at the golf club. The club, which accommodates groups of 50 to 250 people, features a “Hamptons-style clubhouse” overlooking “manicured greens.”
Earlier this week, Brailey was spotted having breakfast with her family in Wollongong while she reported to police for her bail.
The school has confirmed that she has been suspended without pay and that support is being provided to the school’s staff and students.
Her case will be heard again in Campbelltown District Court on October 2.
Brailey is pictured during an outing with her parents in Wollongong on Wednesday