‘DIRTY DANCING’ MISS ADMITS: I WAS DRUNK
Accused teacher was drinking two at a time then did shots at club
A TEACHER has admitted drinking “an excessive amount of alcohol” on the night she allegedly kissed and groped a pupil.
Ashley McConnell said she visited several bars and was ordering two drinks at a time as well as shots during a night out in Thurso, Caithness, with friends in March 2018.
The physics teacher, who taught at Thurso High School, then went to a local nightclub Skinandi’s, where she is alleged to have danced in a “sexualised manner” with a pupil.
It is also alleged while there McConnell, who was 30 at the time, kissed the 17-year-old “three or four times”, touched his bottom and groin and held hands with him.
But McConnell, also known as Ashley Swanson, yesterday said she drank so much she can’t remember everything from that night.
The mum-of-two, who was married at the time, remembers the pupil standing in front of her but can’t recall if more happened due to the
amount of alcohol she drank. Referring to the pupil she allegedly kissed as Pupil A, she said: “I do have a recollection of Pupil A standing in front of me and I remember spending parts of the night with [a former pupil she tutored].
McConnell had been out for dinner and drinks for a colleague’s 50th birthday before she went to Skinandi’s nightclub.
She also visited several pubs in between where she continued to drink before heading to the nightclub.
McConnell denied there were any other feelings towards the boy other than on the night of the alleged kiss.
The teacher admits holding hands with the teen but denies kissing him. McConnell faces being struck off the teaching register by the General Teaching Council for Scotland following the investigation into her alleged behaviour.
She was suspended from her job after concerned pupils approached school bosses with a video of the alleged incident.
Students who were at the nightclub said the teacher was dancing in a “sexualised” and “dirty” manner.
Referring to allegations from pupils that she was “dirty dancing” with the schoolboy, she said: “It’s not something I remember, it is not something that is in the video that the girls took.”
The hearing continues.