A classroom assistant at an Aberdeenshire primary school has claimed children were “petrified” as they witnessed their teacher “launch” a fellow pupil into a radiator and drag another boy across the floor.
The pupil support worker, who was giving evidence at Aberdeen Sheriff Court today, said she was “horrified” by the actions of the 55-year old teacher – who is also accused of sitting on top of a child while continuing to teach the rest of the class.
The teacher, who cannot be named due to legal restrictions, faces four charges of assault and one of assault with intent to injure between January 2018 and July 2019.
She denies all the allegations against her.
The court heard the 57-year old teaching assistant describe how one young boy was dragged by his ankles in July 2019 by the teacher 10 feet across the classroom.
The witness said it resulted in the child being injured by “carpet burns” – which the assistant later photographed.
In another incident in 2018, the support worker said she witnessed a different boy being “launched” by the woman three or four feet into a radiator, injuring his back, as the accused shouted “I’m not putting up with this anymore”.
Concerns about the alleged assaults were only reported to police in December 2019 after the pictures of the carpet burns were shared with a parent.
When asked why Child Protective Services weren’t informed about the incidents earlier, the assistant claimed everyone in the school was “scared” of the primary teacher, including the head mistress.
The witness said she raised repeated concerns about the 55-year old teacher with the head of the school but nothing was done about it.
Fiscal depute Lynne MacVicar questioned the woman over why she didn’t disclose what the teacher had done when initially confronted by one of the boys’ mothers about her son’s injuries.
The classroom assistant said: “His mother asked me what had happened to his back and I lied. I don’t know to this day why I did it. I didn’t feel right about lying to her.”
She said that as a result she had suffered from stress, anxiety, lack of sleep and weight loss.
During cross examination the teacher’s defence solicitor, Emma Toner, asked the assistant again why she did not report the incidents to authorities or parents.
Ms Toner said: “It’s your position that you told the head teacher a couple of days after the July incident and she was not interested – and this is someone who’s got responsibility for every child in that school.
“So here we have a head teacher that you have repeatedly raised allegations of child abuse to and she doesn’t do anything about them? You have evidence from July 2019, why didn’t you do anything about it?
“You would rather have the court think that you failed these children – you failed them in every aspect – than accept that you’ve taken this too far?”
The assistant replied: “I wish I had. I wish I had been brave enough to do it. I live with it every single day.”