The man, now 65, cannot be identified under Section 194K of the Evidence Act because it could tend to identify the victim.

Justice Stephen Estcourt sentenced the man to four years' jail after he pleaded guilty last Friday to persistent sexual abuse of a young person between 1987 and 1989.

READ MORE: Former magistrate to review Ashley sexual harassment case

The court heard last week that the man taught in Tasmanian schools until recently.

Justice Estcourt said his conduct was grave breach of trust and that there were no significant mitigating circumstances.

"You chose to initiate sex," he said.

"There was a substantial age difference and the power imbalance made your conduct egregious."

He said a submission by defence counsel Evan Hughes that the man had genuine affection and love for the complainant and was not predatory was a dubious proposition.

"It is not a mitigating factor, it is the absence of an aggravating factor," he said.

Justice Estcourt accepted as a expression of remorse that the man was "profoundly saddened " by the woman's Victim Impact Statement.

The court heard last Friday that the girl had just turned 14-years-old when he started sexually abusing her at his home.

On the day of the 1987 grand final he led her by the hand upstairs to a bedroom and they had unprotected sexual intercourse.

Mr Hughes withdrew a claim made last week that the first occasion was more than nine months later.

A second occasion was later when she was menstruating.

"The complainant visited once a week and vaginal intercourse occurred during 1987, 1988 and 1989," Justice Estcourt said.

The court heard that in March 1989 the girl became pregnant and delivered a child at a hospital in 1990.

The child was adopted and [he/she]was the only child that the complainant ever had.

"I can't believe the defendant came to the hospital and the staff facilitated his presence and everyone was fine with what he was doing," he quoted from the VIS.

The man gave her flowers, necklace and earrings and they continued to communicate by letter.

Her VIS said she had one little photo of the baby and she could not forget the feeling of leaving the hospital 'empty-armed'.

"How is my [child] where is [he/she] what has [he/she] become," she said.

The complainant's victim impact statement also said recent legal proceedings had resulted in the "same sense of dread and loneliness" that she suffered in the abuse years.

"How trapped, naive, innocent and broken I was," she said.

Justice Estcourt said the connection was profound and life changing for her.

The devastating effect on the complainant is relevant, her life was ruined," Justice Estcourt said.

He declined to make refer the man to the sex offender register saying his age and the time since the offending made in unlikely he would reoffend.

In a statement of facts last Friday Crown prosecutor John Ransom said the acts occurred at a time when the girl had problems at home and she looked up to the man as a male role model.

He said she and her friends talked to the man but she wanted to talk to him without her friends.

They began to walk home and eventually he invited her inside to listen to music and gave her biscuits that he knew to be her favourite.

A two year non-parole period was specified.

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: