Pe teacher not guilty of boy’s assault
AN ANGRY school pupil, who admitted wanting to punch his PE teacher in the face, shouted at him: “I’ll press charges against you, you d***head.”
The teenager, who cannot be named for legal reasons, alleged head of PE Graham Halsey assaulted him by strangling him as he tried to walk on to a football pitch.
Dad-of-two Mr Halsey, who has been a teacher for 20 years, denied the charge and was found not guilty following a trial at Cardiff Magistrates’ Court.
The court heard the incident happened at lunchtime on May 21 last year at a high school in Cardiff.
Matthew Greenish, prosecuting, said Mr Halsey tried to speak to the boy about his behaviour that morning after he threw a bag in the corridor.
He saw him at lunchtime about to enter the 3G football pitch with a group of friends and tried to take him to one side to speak about the earlier incident.
The court heard the pupil ignored him, ducked underneath his arm, which was raised to try to block the entrance, and “barged” past him on to the pitch.
When he was interviewed, the teenager said Mr Halsey “strangled” him and pulled him off the pitch “hard”.
He told the police: “Me and my mates walked to the football pitch. They all went in, but he stood in my way to stop me going on. So I went under his arm, but he put his arm around my neck and grabbed my shoulder from behind. He pulled me off the pitch.”
Asked how he felt, the teenager replied: “Angry. I wanted to punch him in the face. He strangled me.”
Questioned about whether he said anything to his teacher, he responded: “I’ll press charges against you, you d***head. You strangled me, you f***ing c***.”
He told officers he “rugby tackled” his teacher by dropping his shoulder into his waist, knocking him backwards.
The boy said he did not suffer any injuries. He explained Mr Halsey had given him a detention earlier that day for running in a corridor and throwing a bag.
Asked how he felt about being told off and put in detention, he replied: “I didn’t care.”
Mr Halsey, from Heol Corn Du in Beacon Heights, Merthyr Tydfil, denied common assault. He said he wanted to speak to the boy about why his behaviour was dangerous and thought they had a good relationship, as the pupil liked PE.
The 42-year-old, who was responsible for running a number of extracurricular sports clubs, said he raised his arms to block the pupil’s way on to the pitch.
He told the court the child swore at him, ducked under his arms and “barged” past him, knocking him backwards.
Mr Halsey said he was supervising about 60 pupils on the pitch and told the boy he needed to calm down because he was starting to get aggressive.
He added: “He pushed me in the chest, backwards on to the pitch.”
Jeffrey Jones, defending, asked: “Did you try and grab his neck?” The defendant replied: “I did not, no.”
Deputy District Judge Mark Layton said: “I do not consider this amounts to assault and I find you not guilty of the charge, which is now duly dismissed.”