Daryl Carr, 56, is accused of sexually assaulting the students at Bacchus Marsh College between June 2016 and February 2017.

The two students gave evidence at the Ballarat Magistrates Court on Wednesday by a remote witness facility.

In a March 2017 police recording played to the court, one teenager said Carr touched her inappropriately on the inner thigh two occasions in the classroom.

“I needed his help with something … and I asked him for help. He sat down next to me and had his hand on me,” the teenager said.

She said the teacher made her feel really uncomfortable, with his hand allegedly half under her school uniform.

The teenager said in the recording Carr touched her backside in the school grounds at recess.

“I was leaning against a pole near his office and he grabbed it and kept walking. He grabbed it as he walked past … like he grabbed it and squeezed it and let it go,” she said.

“I got all awkward and now I just stay away from him completely.”

The second complainant said during her police recording, she was sitting in the classroom in May when Carr touched her inappropriately around the inner thigh, but continued talking to her like nothing was happening.

“He started up my waist and moved down slowly. He was there for a couple of minutes and a student raised their hand and he moved off,” she said.

The teenager said Carr put his hand on her shoulder and touched her breast while in the classroom and stared at her inappropriately in the school grounds. 

When the teenager spoke to Carr in the school grounds, he allegedly told her she was one of her best students.

“All he has told me is I am one of the best students he has had, that I am a beautiful lady and I could do great things,” she said.

During cross-examination, the teenagers were asked if Carr’s alleged actions could have been an accident.

“A little bit of me thinks he did it by accident and a little bit of me thinks it wasn’t an accident,” one of the teenagers said during the police recording.

Carr, who is no longer teaching, had strong support during Wednesday’s contested hearing.

It was adjourned to February 19 before magistrate John Murphy.

The hearing is expected to hear from a further four prosecution witnesses, while defence counsel indicated they would be calling evidence.

Carr is pleading not guilty to the charges.