Teacher faces charges of groping pupil and looking up girls’ skirts

Man on trial accused of sexually assaulting women and children

A Dundee art teacher sexually assaulted a female pupil and looked up children’s skirts during class, a court has been told.

James Smith, 57, is on trial at Dundee Sheriff Court facing allegations he sexually assaulted women and girls over an 11-year period, from 2008 until January this year.

The alleged attacks were said to have taken place at various addresses across Dundee and at a school in the city, which cannot be named in order to protect the anonymity of the complainers during the case.

A former pupil said when she was aged 16 Smith, of Nelson Terrace, made inappropriate comments and cornered her in an arts supply cupboard, where he touched her bottom.

The woman, now an adult, told the court: “On one occasion he was doing a photo of me in a dress I’d designed and made a comment about being able to see up my skirt.

“He said he needed to get a wider lens to ‘fit it all in’, referring to my bum.

“On another occasion I had been eating chocolate bars and he said ‘well we all know where that goes’, again referring to my backside.”

The female added that on a different day, she went to a walk-in cupboard to choose an object to paint and Smith followed her in.

“There’s a stool in the closet and I started to get on it to reach the item,” she said.

“He said do you need a hand and I said ‘no’. He then put his hand, or hands, on my backside and pushed me on to the stool.”

Three current pupils at the school also gave evidence detailing how Smith dropped a pencil near their desks on a number of occasions.

One girl, aged 15, said: “He would Smith is accused of indecently assaulting a woman at an address on an occasion between June 1 and December 31 2008. It is alleged that he seized her body before repeatedly touching her breasts and kissing her.

Prosecutors allege he indecently assaulted a woman at a school between January 1 and March 31 2009.

The same woman was allegedly touched inappropriately and kissed by Smith between March 1 and 31 2009.

Smith also denies indecently assaulting a child at the same school between May 1 and 31 2010.

A third and fourth child were allegedly indecently assaulted at the school from January 5 to July 1 last year and January 1 and 31 this year.

Between August 15 2016 and July 1 last year, Smith conducted himself in a disorderly manner while a teacher at the same school.

He is accused of repeatedly dropping a pencil or similar to the floor, bending down to retrieve it and while bending, looking up the skirts of female pupils, to their fear and alarm. bend down quickly to pick it up and then get up slowly.

“It looked like he was looking at our legs and up our skirts.

“At first I thought it was an accident but other girls would say the same, that he was looking up their skirts.”

The girl added that on two occasions Smith touched her on the outside and inside of her thigh respectively, under the pretext of getting her to turn around in her seat.

It was put to the alleged victims they were mistaken and Smith had merely been trying to assist them, which they refuted.

They were asked whether they had made up the accusations to fit in with their friends, as there had been “preposterous” rumours about Smith being “creepy”. They also denied this.

The trial will continue on September 30.