A prison psychologist who fell for her child rapist client, a member of the notorious Skaf gang, has been disqualified from practising.
Joanne Senior, 33, was working at Parklea Correctional Centre in 2011 when she began counselling the man, known for legal reasons as Client A.
Client A took part in the rape of three teenage girls by Bilal Skaf's gang, which terrorised Sydney in the lead-up to the 2000 Olympic Games. The sentencing judge called the crimes "callous, violent, sordid and degrading".
Client A's IQ score placed him in the bottom 1 per cent of the population; in jail he was diagnosed with an antisocial personality disorder and sexual perversion.
Ms Senior admitted to the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal that in July 2011 she began an inappropriate personal relationship with Client A.
The pair traded endearments and pretended to have sex in phone calls Ms Senior made using fake names. Ms Senior told Client A "I love you babe" and "Of course I'm going to marry you".
She took his last name and obtained a new passport under it. After he was transferred to another prison, she used the new passport to visit him 24 times, concealing her identity as a Corrective Services employee and breaching prison security. She also moved into his mother's house.
During the relationship, Ms Senior had also prepared a treatment report on his mental problems.
Forensic psychologist Luke Broomhall testified that Ms Senior may have been suffering depression, anxiety and professional "burn out". But he said that would not have stopped her recognising the relationship was wrong.
Mr Broomhall said Client A was more likely to objectify women after Ms Senior allowed him to call her a slut.
Ms Senior, who resigned from her job in early 2012 after being suspended, told the tribunal she had lost track of the emotional dynamic between herself and her client.
"I maintain that initially I was well aware of transference issues, however, over time, I did not recognise escalating signs of transference issues," she said.
The tribunal said in a judgment released this week that it was "determined to reprimand Ms Senior in the strongest possible terms".
It found she committed "a very serious boundary violation and placed her client and the possibly community at risk".
Preparing the treatment report had been "reprehensible".
"Ms Senior has also engaged in dishonest and deceptive conduct," panel members wrote in their judgment.
"Her insight into the seriousness of her conduct and its impact on her colleagues and the profession as a whole remains dubious."
The tribunal barred her from offering therapy, counselling, welfare services and clinical supervision for three years.
Client A, sentenced to remain in prison until 2017, was first eligible for parole in 2012.