Dance teacher sentenced after offering cocaine to teen in Gold Coast pub
Rex Martinich
A well-known dance teacher used her fingernail to shove cocaine under a teenager’s nose and told another girl to delete a video of herself doing the drug because it could “ruin her career”.
The trainer’s fears came true when police received a late-night video of him snorting cocaine in the toilets of a Gold Coast bar.
Sonja Yvonne Middelbosch, 53, appeared in the Supreme Court in Brisbane on Wednesday for sentencing after pleading guilty to two charges of aggravated supply of cocaine to a child aged 16 or over.
He also pleaded guilty to three counts of supplying dangerous drugs before being given a suspended prison sentence.
Middelbosch trained in London and spent 25 years flying regularly to Sydney to train some of Australia’s leading dancers.
She has now been banned from several dance schools and has put her house up for sale due to financial difficulties, judge Sean Cooper heard.
Crown prosecutor Caleb Theunissen said Middelbosch twice supplied cocaine to a 17-year-old girl on May 17, while he was out with the victim and her friend, and until the morning of May 18, 2024.
“The defendant repeatedly offered (the victim) and others the dangerous drug cocaine,” he said.
At 1 a.m., the dance teacher and one of the teenagers went to the toilet, where the woman took cocaine from her bag and her friend filmed on the toilet stall.
The court heard Middelbosch can be seen on video dipping his finger into a clip-top bag and discussing the effects of cocaine.
He told the young boy to tilt his head back and put his fingernail under the girl’s nose so she could smell the cocaine.
Theunissen said Middelbosch told the victim’s friend to delete the video because it “could ruin his career and lose his green card.”
When his car broke down after leaving the bar, the victim was offered cocaine again.
Middelbosch put some of the cocaine on her finger and told the teen to push her upper lip up and use his finger to rub the drug on the girl’s gums.
Theunissen said the fact that the dance teacher twice asked for the toilet video to be deleted showed that she was fully aware of the seriousness and potential consequences of her actions.
“This was a serious breach of trust… there is a sense of betrayal in the victim,” he said.
But the court was told Middelbosch had no previous criminal record and his time in custody should be spared because he had lost the career to which he had been fully devoted.
“He was publicly embarrassed… his whole life changed as a result,” defense lawyer Anthony Kimmins said.
Cooper said he was concerned that Middelbosch had not expressed remorse, but the out-of-court sentence was a significant factor in sentencing.
“You are not a regular cocaine user… you have no other qualifications. You have been unemployed for some time,” he said.
Middelbosch was given a six-month prison sentence, fully suspended, and refused to comment as he left court.
AAP
