This article is from page 20 of the 2014-07-01 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 20 JPG
A WOMAN has recalled the fright and hurt she felt as a young girl when her primary school teacher allegedly pushed her on a desk and forced his body on top of her.
The woman was giving evidence at the second day of the trial of an 80year-old retired teacher accused of 67 counts of indecent assault.
The man denies all charges, which relate to allegations between 1964 and 1985 at a Clare primary school.
The allegations concern 11 women who say they were assaulted by the man.
On Thursday at Ennis Circuit Criminal Court, the woman recalled an incident she alleges happened in sixth class.
She said the man pushed her on a desk and forced himself on top of her as she faced him.
“He was pushing his whole body weight down on me”, she said.
“My sister shouted stop, you’re going to break my sister’s back”.
The woman told prosecuting counsel Anthony Sammon SC that the incident was “very frightful” and “very hurtful”.
Defence counsel Roderick O’Hanlon SC put it to the woman that the incident at the desk never happened and that her memory is simply an “incorrect recollection”.
Under cross-examination, the woman maintained she had been assaulted by her former teacher.
“We were country children when we were subjected to this behaviour”, she added.
She said the children did not know what sex was but knew their teacher’s behaviour was “horrible” and “wrong”
She said they were “country children in a country school” when they were assaulted by the man.
She said it was a “no win” situation for the children because this was man in “power, all power” who knew their parents.
A 45-year-old woman told the court she recalled that when she was in fifth class, the teacher would sit beside her at her desk and touch her inappropriately.
She also recalled that the man used to admire her clothes.
She said the man used to hold her between his legs as he sat on a high stool at the front of the classroom.
She said she knows now the man was getting aroused.
“He had an erection and it was sticking into my back”.
In cross examination, defence counsel, Mr O’Hanlon SC, put it to the woman that his client never engaged in the type of inappropriate touching as detailed by her.
He told her she was “constructing a narrative” about what happened.
The fifth female complainant to give evidence told the court the former teacher was “very cross” and “very violent”.
She said she remembered one day when the man allegedly pulled one boy from his desk and proceeded to bang his head on every desk.
“I’ll never forget that. It was horrific”, she added.
Prosecuting counsel for the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Anthony Sammon SC, put it to the woman that corporal punishment was permitted at the time.
The woman told Mr Sammon she thought the accused’s behaviour was “excessive”.
The woman detailed assaults committed against her by her then teacher. She said they occurred with greater frequency, as she got older in fifth and sixth class.
Defence counsel Roderick O’Hanlon SC put it to the woman, the aggravated assault on the boy never happened.
He said no complaint had been made to the gardaí in respect of that time. The trial before Judge Gerald Keys commenced on Wednesday last and is due to continue today.