Teacher’s conviction for clipping pupil quashed
ATEACHER accused of clipping an unruly pupil over the head with a book has won her fight to clear her name.
Regina Hungerford, 54, faced a lifetime classroom ban after a 17-year-old boy claimed she lashed out with the book for playing a music video on his phone in class at Merthyr Tydfil college.
Maths and German mistress Mrs Hungerford feared a criminal record would also see her lose her beloved hobby as a senior volunteer with the local Girl Guides – a group she’d been with for 25 years. She had also been a county commissioner.
Mother-of-two Mrs Hungerford admitted she lost her temper and shouted at the boy before throwing his phone out of a classroom window.
Magistrates found her guilty during the trial in October. They imposed a 12-month community order and ordered her to complete 60 work.
But she always denied hitting Shane Jenkins, now 18, with a book – and has had her conviction overturned on appeal.
Mrs Hungerford said: “I’m normally very calm. I just shouted. I used two hands to slam the book down on the desk.”
The appeal heard Jenkins had been misbehaving in class and had refused Mrs Hungerford’s repeated requests that he turn off his mobile phone.
The court heard he told her, “you can’t make me” before then claiming she’d hit out with the book.
Jenkins refused to appear in court to come face-to-face with his teacher, but gave evidence on video link.
He initially said he wasn’t certain that she’d hit him with the book – but on video link said he was now “sure” Mrs
hours’ unpaid Hungerford had caught him once with the book.
He claimed it was a hardback book – but classroom assistant Ms Michelle Waters said it was an A5 notebook, while support worker Beverley Clark said it was a spiral notebook and files.
Ms Waters told the court: “Shane said: ‘She’s f****** nuts’. He said that his nan didn’t hit him like that. He looked humiliated.”
Defending, Peter Doninson had earlier told the court his client volunteered with the Girl Guides for 25 years – and had been the county commissioner for Breconshire between 2006 and 2007.
He said: “The real sentence she will suffer is not the sentence of the court, but the loss of her employment and loss of work with the Girl Guides.
“She can no longer volunteer in the community and that is a loss to her wellbeing and the community that she supports.”
Mrs Hungerford said: “This has ruined my life and I want to do my best to overturn this miscarriage of justice.”
Yesterday, she had her conviction for common assault quashed at her appeal in front of a judge and two magistrates at Merthyr Tydfil Crown Court.
Following her conviction, campaigners called for the law courts to sympathise more with teachers under strain from badly-behaved pupils. Her friends also backed her, calling the conviction a “complete scandal” .
Widowed Mrs Hungerford, of Cefn Coed, Merthyr Tydfil, who was supported in court by a friend, declined to comment after the case on whether she will return to work at the college where she has taught for 14 years.
But a friend said: “It is a big relief and she wants to get on with her life. She wouldn’t be able to teach nor do the Guides with a criminal conviction – but now she can carry on.”