Teacher assaulted boy over apple row

A TEACHER who assaulted a boy in a row over the way he was cutting an apple has escaped court punishment.

Alan Norris lost his job and his teaching career after he admitted assaulting a child by dragging him across the floor.

The 47-year-old teacher had been accused of repeatedly kicking the boy while he was on the ground but the Crown accepted his guilty plea to a reduced charge.

Norris, from Birnam, admitted assaulting the teenager, who cannot be named for legal reasons, at an address in the Perthshire village on March 16 last year.

The father-of-two was suspended from his position as teacher at Craigie Primary School in Perth after his arrest and has since been dismissed from his teaching role.

Perth Sheriff Court was told that the 15-year-old boy had clashed with Norris over the way an apple was being chopped as it may have been marking a work surface.

Fiscal depute Michael Sweeney said: “The complainer was chopping an apple. An argument ensued between himself and the accused, who was concerned about the worktops possibly being damaged.

“The argument rumbled on. The accused grabbed his wrist and pulled him out of a chair which led to him sliding across the floor and into a wall.”

Mr Sweeney said the victim ran away and the “commotion” was heard by other witnesses who were nearby.

Sheriff Lindsay Foulis admonished Norris for the offence.