Teacher ‘rubbed dog mess in face of pupil’ claim
JON MACPHERSON
ADEPUTY headteacher ‘rubbed dog mess’ in the face of a misbehaving pupil, it was claimed in court.
The male complainant told a jury that Grahame Brennand ‘picked him up by the scruff of the neck’ and rubbed his nose in dog faeces during a break time at St John’s primary school in Baxenden.
On another occasion the complainant said the defendant threw him head first across a classroom after talking to another pupil.
Mr Brennand, 70, is standing trial accused of carrying out sex attacks on 25 female pupils and subjecting two boys to acts of cruelty over two decades.
He denies 48 counts of indecent assault and four counts of cruelty made against him.
The male complainant told the jury at Preston Crown Court that Mr Brennand ‘took it upon himself to administer discipline’ and would walk round school ‘as if he was looking for occasions to join in’.
The complainant told the court that in one alleged incident he was with a small group of children flicking dog muck with a stick at the school building.
He said Mr Brennand picked him up ‘ by the scruff of the neck’ and then rubbed his nose in the faeces on the wall before dropping him to the ground.
In another alleged incident Mr Brennand, who lived in the Hyndburn area for 40 years and now lives in Preston, was ‘trying to settle the class down’ and the complainant was talking to a fellow pupil.
He claimed that Mr Brennand picked him up and threw him headfirst across numerous tables and into a wooden bookcase.
The complainant told the jury: “The day after one of my friends took it upon himself to say ‘we’ve had enough’.
“He gathered up a small group and we went to the headmaster’s office. We tried to explain what happened to me in particular and what was happening to other kids.”
PROCEEDING