An Ottawa judge has handed down 14 months of jail time for an educational assistant she called “opportunistic” for having sex with a teenager over a two-year period.

At the sentencing hearing for Katherine Kitts, Justice Celynne Dorval on Tuesday imposed the maximum jail time set out by the Crown: 14 months behind bars.

In the courtroom, a tearful Kitts appeared shocked by the ruling. She hugged her family and gave them some of her belongings before she was handcuffed by police and taken into custody.

In March, Kitts pleaded guilty to the sexual exploitation of a student, a male who was 16 when their two-year relationship began.

In her scathing ruling, Justice Dorval said Kitts’ “abuse of her position” placed the victim in “an impossible” situation.

“Her breach of trust has very real and long-lasting effects.”

Dorval said Kitts provided the victim with her cell phone number, and at one point, brought an inflatable mattress in her van. The planning that went in to the relationship, Dorval said, was “inconsistent” with a lapse in judgment.

“This cannot be characterized as a lapse of judgment … Ms. Kitts wasn’t questioning her judgment during 15,000 text messages?”

Dorval added: “This was a sustained decision to use this victim as a result of her own emotional needs.”

Kitts had asked the judge to keep her out of jail, saying her incarceration would impact the lives of her sons and ruin her chances at building a new life.

But Dorval dismissed Kitts’ concern over the welfare of her sons should she be locked up.

“Ms. Kitts is concerned over the welfare of her sons … at 16 to 18 years of age … precisely the age of the victim at the time of the offence,” Dorval said. “She did not extend her appreciation of the vulnerability of young persons to the victim.”

The tough sentence surprised even Kitts’ lawyer, Susan Chapman.

“Obviously I’m disappointed with the sentence,” Chapman told reporters outside court. “She’s a very remorseful accused and she got a very significant custodial sentence.”

The sentence also sends a message to other educators.

“Ms. Kitts worked one-on-one with students with learning disabilities … her influence over students was arguably considerably greater than the teacher who works with 30 students,” Dorval said in her ruling.

The victim’s mother says she feels justice has been served, and she hopes this sentence spares others from similar crimes.

With a report by CTV Ottawa’s Catherine Lathem