Martial arts instructor uses “strip Pokemon” to sexually assault teen student

An Australian martial arts instructor is being accused of using Pokemon as a “strip game” in order to sexually assault a 16-year-old student.

Aaron Smalley, a 28-year-old martial arts instructor from Melbourne, Australia, has pleaded guilty to the allegations he sexually assaulted a 16-year-old female student.

According to court documents, the Melbourne police claim Smalley’s assaults occurred between November 2019 and March 2022 while the victim was 15. The assaults took place at the martial arts studio, the back of Smalley’s vehicle, an apartment, and a park.

On Tuesday, February 14, the court was made aware that Smalley had first met the female student when she was 10 and had urged her mother to enroll her in the martial arts academy.

Pokemon allegedly used as means of sexual assault

At the same hearing, Prosecutor Charlotte Duckett told the court that Smalley would suggest playing Pokemon with the teen. However, instead of the kid-friendly monster battler many are familiar with, Smalley used the game to make sexual advances with his victim.

He reportedly turned Pokemon into a “strip game.” Duckett stated that removing clothes was a way for Smalley to “make it more interesting.”

Duckett claims that the sexual assaults started when the victim was 15 but that Smalley began having sexual intercourse with the girl once she turned 16. The student reported Smalley to the police in March 2021.

In a secretly recorded phone call played for the court, the student claimed she had developed Tourette syndrome as a response to the trauma. Smalley stated he felt like he was “falling” for her.

He also questioned whether he was being recorded and asked if he was “going to prison.”

Smalley pled guilty to 13 charges, including sexual assault of a child aged under 16 and penetration of a child aged 16 under his care. He was kept in police custody and will be sentenced at a future court hearing.