Jayden Brian: Methodist Ladies’ College swim coach charged with sexually abusing child

A swimming coach working at one of Melbourne’s most prestigious girls’ schools was arrested at the poolside over allegations he sexually abused a child, a court heard.

Jayden Brian, 32, who worked at Methodist Ladies’ College for nine years, was arrested while giving swimming lessons to students in the school’s pool in October last year.

While being driven from the area by detectives, Mr Brian was allegedly captured by a body-worn camera telling him the name of the 13-year-old girl he was accused of assaulting.

“On hearing the complainant’s name, the defendant responded ‘st’ in a long, drawn-out tone and then uttered ‘oh f–k, oh f–k, oh f–k’,” a prosecutor told Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Friday afternoon.

Mr Brian requests bail to live with his family and fiancee in Altona North and is offered a job at his aunt and uncle’s construction company.

He is charged with nine offenses, including sexual touching of a child under 16, preparation for sexual conduct and possession of child abuse material.

Police allege Mr Brian contacted a 13-year-old boy via a social media app that listed his age before moving the conversation to Snapchat in September last year.

He allegedly quickly turned the conversation into a sexual direction, repeatedly soliciting and receiving intimate images from the child.

The court was told Mr Brian and the boy allegedly planned to meet and have sex on September 30 and Brian allegedly agreed to buy alcohol and cigarettes for him.

But on September 25 the boy allegedly asked if they could meet that day and Mr Brian’s partner arrived in his Mazda 3 sedan.

Police allege Mr. Brian kissed and touched the boy before leaving the car and sent him a $50 Amazon digital gift card later the same day.

Two days later the court was told the boy reported the incident to the police and an investigation was launched.

An undercover agent allegedly began communicating with Mr. Brian on September 29, with the defendant pretending to be a 15-year-old boy and claiming to be 17 years old.

During the conversation, police allege Mr Brian became flirtatious and sexually explicit when requesting a meeting with the undercover police officer.

On October 3, Mr Brian allegedly sent a photo of himself to the operator, who was wearing a Methodist Ladies’ College T-shirt, and was approached and arrested “a few minutes later”.

Giving evidence, Senior Constable Matt Henning said Mr Brian was alleged to have more than 50 images and videos of child abuse on his devices, including his mobile phone and school-issued iPad.

He also claimed that hundreds or thousands of photographs of school girls were found, some of which he described as “inappropriate”.

Mr Brian was not alleged to have harassed any students at the Methodist Ladies’ College and the court was told police had been told no complaints had been made about him.

Officer Henning said there was alleged evidence of Mr Brian communicating with young girls on social media as far back as 2018.

The court said police allegedly made contact with a second complainant who identified himself in the footage dated March 2021.

The woman, then 17, claimed she met Mr Brian on a dating application and paid him for explicit images despite knowing his age.

Constable Henning said police opposed Mr Brian’s bail, claiming he posed an unacceptable risk to the community and had shown a “tendency” to target vulnerable underage girls on social media.

He said the girl was against Mr Brian being granted bail and her family were “very much against it because of his fragility”.

The officer accepted a suggestion from Brian’s lawyer, James McQuillan, that the “majority” of the child abuse material allegedly found dated from September 2025.

The court was told Mr Brian was his fiancée’s carer and that he “couldn’t cope without Jayden supporting him”.

Mr Brian’s father, Alistair Brian, offered equity in the family home as a guarantee of bail and confirmed to the court he would undertake to report in case of bail breaches.

Mr McQuillan suggested his client could be banned from accessing computers and the internet or owning a smartphone due to his bail conditions.

The bail application was postponed after being heard in part by Judge Michelle Mykytowycz and will return to court next Friday.