Violin teacher on trial for assault of four girls under 13

A VIOLIN teacher has gone on trial, accused of sexually assaulting four of his female pupils, all of whom were under the age of 13 at the time of the alleged offences.

Brian Bergin (60), from Brookhill in the Culmore Road area of Londonderry denies eight offences allegedly committed on dates between August 2011 and May 2014.

The defendant is charged with intentionally touching four female children sexually while in a position of trust.

A barrister for the Public Prosecution Service told the jury of seven women and five men at the Crown Court in Derry that the girls were all primary school pupils aged between nine and 11 years of age at the time.

The prosecutor said when the allegations were made against the defendant in May 2014 he was employed as a violin teacher at a number of schools by the Western Education and Library Board. The four children in this case attended two primary schools.

One of the girls first made her allegations to her school principal who then contacted the girl’s mother. The girl subsequently recorded an interview with the PSNI during which she outlined her allegations.

She said the defendant would put her on his knee, rub her sides, put his arm around her neck and got her to do the splits.

The second complainant al-

Accused: Brian Bergin

leged the defendant had rubbed her shoulders and sides regularly and also got her to do the splits.

The third complainant told the police that the defendant hugged her, rubbed her back, asked her to spread her legs wide apart and on one occasion said to her: “Don’t leave me”.

The fourth told the police that the defendant felt her sides and also made her do the splits.

On February 26, 2015, the defendant attended Magherafelt PSNI station on a voluntary basis and he denied all of the allegations. The prosecution barrister told the jury the defendant did not give any explanation to the police for his alleged behaviour.

“His motivation was the sexual touching of each of these children in the manner which he did, which was sexual in nature and that he did it intentionally and not accidentally”, the barrister told the jurors.

Later, the jury heard an interview given by one of the girls to a social worker in the presence of a detective constable at Strand Road PSNI children’s unit on May 28, 2014.

The girl said the defendant had taught her violin lessons for three years in school with up to four other pupils present.

She said she was in primary five when she first received a lesson from the defendant. She said on occasions he pulled her onto his knees, tapped and rubbed her on the sides and placed his arm around her neck. She said she got off his knees straightaway.

“It felt strange, awkward. Other teachers would not have done that,” she told the social worker.

The girl said once or twice the defendant mentioned posture to her and asked her to stand with her legs apart.

On one occasion, he asked her to stand with her legs “wide apart” and that either she or one of the other girls in the class challenged him about that.

Defence barrister Ciaran Mallon QC said the playing of the violin involved having the right posture and balance.

“Any contact with you was entirely appropriate and was the sort of physical contact any violin teacher would have to do to correct posture in terms of where your feet were, your shoulder position, where your fingers should be on the violin strings. It was all in the context of a music lesson”, he said.

The trial continues.