Judge grants principal charged with assaulting students access to their school files

A Conception Bay South elementary school principal accused of using excessive force on four students has been granted access to their school files for the purpose of forming a defence.

Ian Patey, the lawyer for Robin Mcgrath — who has been suspended without pay in connection to complaints made to the Newfoundland and Labrador Eastern School District and the police by concerned parents — had argued that the information in the files is relevant to the defence.

Patey also indicated he will likely make arguments at trial under Section 43 of the Criminal Code. That section states, “Every schoolteacher, parent or person standing in the place of a parent is justified in using force by way of correction toward a pupil or child, as the case may be, who is under his care, if the force does not exceed what is reasonable under the circumstances.”

The school files are said to include varied information, including behavioural management plans and incident reports.

“In general terms, I did not find any material that I thought needed to be redacted in rights to privacy interest,” Judge David Orr said Wednesday.

Orr explained he had reviewed the files, and they included information that set out Mcgrath's role in terms of the children's behaviour management and other issues.

It was clear in the records that Mcgrath has a role that involved direct contact with the students, on varying levels, Orr said, and Mcgrath would have been privy to much of the content anyway.

“On balance … this material is simply part of the wider context of the interaction of the complainants within the school and need not be redacted for the purposes of disclosure,” Orr said.

This doesn't necessarily mean, he added, that the material will be admitted as evidence at Mcgrath's

trial.

“The records that I have reviewed are, in my opinion, relevant to the defence,” the judge continued.

“The records may assist the accused to make full answer and defence.”

Orr ordered that the records must be copied only as necessary and all copies must be destroyed immediately following the trial, with the lawyers acknowledging the same in writing to the court.

Representing the parents of the students, lawyer David Power expressed concerns last month with the private nature of the files. The parents had agreed to give RNC investigators access to them, he said.

Mcgrath, who did not appear in court for the hearing, has been charged with four counts of assault and one count of uttering threats against a number of students between Sept. 1, 2017 and June 30, 2018.

The complaints alleged inappropriate verbal and physical interactions with students of a non-sexual nature, the school district said last year.

Mcgrath's case will be called again in provincial court in St. John's on Jan. 30, when the court is expected to set a date for his trial.