Trial told teacher touched pupil’s leg

A SCHOOLGIRL has claimed her art teacher deliberately d ropped pe nc i l s so he could look up her sk i rt be fore touch i ng her inappropriately.

The claims were made in the trial of James Skelton Smith, 57, who denies carrying out a series of indecent assaults at a Dundee school.

The school pupil, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said she and a classmate began to notice that Smith would regularly drop pencils or pens near their desk.

When giving evidence, she said: “He would bend down quite quickly to pick it up but then stand up quite slowly which would make it appear he was looking up our skirts.”

When asked by fiscal depute Laura Bruce if what Smith was doing was an accident, the witness said: “At first I thought it was but I saw that it l ooked more deliberate.”

The witness said she began to skip art classes as a result of Smith’s alleged conduct. On other incidents of alleged touching, the witness said: “He came over and wanted me to face my table.

“He said ‘could you please turn round?’ and touched my leg. He did it again when I was turning round to speak to another table. It was nearer my groin area.”

Defence counsel Jonathan Crowe suggested to the witness that she was “jumping on the bandwagon” in relation to rumours spread about Smith within the school. He said: “The alternative would be that are you telling lies about Mr Smith to be like your pals?” In response, the girl simply said: “No.” Another former pupil claimed she was sexually assaulted in a store cupboard by Smith.

The witness, now 25, said: “I went in to the store room and he came in to try and help me choose something for my still life project. There’s a high stool in the closet and I started to get on to it and he said ‘do you need a hand?’

“I said no and he put his hands on my backside and pushed me upwards.”

Smith, of Nelson Terrace, denies indecently assaulting a woman at an address in Dundee on an occasion between June 1 and December 31 2008. He is further alleged to have indecently assaulted a woman at the school between January 1 and March 31 2009. A child was allegedly indecently assaulted by Smith at the same school between May 1-31 2010.

Smith allegedly indecently assaulted a third and fourth child at the school between January 5-July 1 last year and January 1-31 this year.

A final charge alleges on various occasions between August 15 2016 and July 1 2018, Smith repeatedly dropped a pencil or similar to the floor, bent down to retrieve it and while bending, looked up the skirts of female pupils to their fear and alarm.

The trial was adjourned until September 30.