to think that this teacher should keep his job?

[kweggie]

Dean Macfarlane, a teacher,who faced 18 months of abuse from schoolchildren is facing the sack after pushing a boy who spat at him
He became frustrated after being hit with snowballs and said youths had gone into his garden and damaged property. Macfarlane was handed a community order after admitting assault but he fears he may lose job he has had for 34 years at school in Doncaster .
I read this and wondered what had happened to the kids who apparently harrassed him, trespassed and spat at him? What would you say to your children?

[BoneyBackJefferson]

curlew

Why are you so interested in vilifying the man? and not those that abused him for 18 months?

[Theexisapsychocunt]

Sorry that was an educated guess - he will have been told the maximum potential sentence and then what he would get with a guilty plea.

[beatback]

I did not say this happened, but you can bet when he saw a "Solictor" he would have asked whats the worst case and when the Solictor says 3 months Custody because the Court will say because you are a Teacher you should have more control and responsabilty. Or if you plead Guilty to the Magistrate a £500-£1000 fine "What would you do".

[curlew]

I'm not vilifying him- I've said repeatedly that what happened to him is crap. But I am also saying that he has a conviction for assault, and therefore cannot be a teacher. Before I say that is unfair, or a miscarriage of justice, I want to know exactly what happened. Which we don't know.

He is a teacher, so an educated, intelligent man. He presumably had advice. So why did he admit assault?

[Theexisapsychocunt]

If a child of mine was responsible for this sort of behaviour you can be Damn sure they'd not get sympathy from me - but some people will excuse their children anything

[MidniteScribbler]

He is a teacher, so an educated, intelligent man. He presumably had advice. So why did he admit assault?

I can imagine that after eighteen months of ongoing harassment that he would be so worn down that he would just want the whole thing to be over and to make it all go away. That may not be the right way to go about it, but I can understand the sheer mental exhaustion of it all.

[BoneyBackJefferson]

you might as well ask (given the circumstance surrounding this) why the CPS bothered to prosecute.

Just because he had advice doesn't mean that it was any good.

[curlew]

"you might as well ask (given the circumstance surrounding this) why the CPS bothered to prosecute."

Absolutely. I do ask that. Can anyone answer?

[beatback]

Jury"s are not made up of 12 good men and true and some of them are Totally thick and disintrested in the case they are trying. It can be pot luck in CROWN COURT especially with these kind of cases. The Teacher must be 55 or so. If he went to Crown Court how long would it take for the case to come round "ALL THAT WORRY AND STRESS" or get it over now and get on with your life.

[Theexisapsychocunt]

Regardless of advice I have no doubt the idea of a prison sentence is terrifying to your average law abiding citizen - never mind one who has been subjected to ongoing harassment.

Plus finding yourself facing a prosecution for retaliating
To your abuser will shake your faith in the system your trusted to protect you - he would have been reeling from the abuse, from being charged by the "government" and the system itself.

Its one of the little known side effects when a rape/abuse claim falls apart, a report is not actioned, a bot guilty verdict is reached - up until that point you believe the government is there to protect you and then you realise no one gives a fuck.

[BoneyBackJefferson]

He is a teacher, so an educated, intelligent man.
Lets not forget that he was also vulnerable man and as such an easy target.

[Theexisapsychocunt]

He may be educated but gut wrenching fear has no respect for education

[NameThatTuna]

Does it say anywhere who reported him to the police?

If it was the parent of the boy, they are just as guilty of this harrassment as the child is.

[BoneyBackJefferson]

It could well be the policemen that attended the incident, (if the bloke reported it)

[Floggingmolly]

Being pushed into a hedge after spitting at someone unprovoked hardly constitutes assault.
It does legally, obviously. But after 18 months continual harassment?
The kid got off bloody lightly, IMO.
I'd be beside myself with shame if any of those feral little animals were my children.

[MidniteScribbler]

Can I also add that, as a teacher, we spend a lot of time justifying our actions, good and bad. When you're hauled over the coals because a first grader has run up, grabbed your hand as they walk in to class and tells you about their weekend, a parent sees it and assumes you're doing something unsavory. Or you take a pair of scissors out of the hand of a child who is threatening to stab his classmate and you then have to justify why you did it.

So when you've had eighteen months of harassment and abuse, you give the little turd who is trying to spit on you a shove out of the way, and the next thing you're in front of a judge, then yes, I can see why he's finally had enough and just wants it all over with.

[curlew]

"Being pushed into a hedge after spitting at someone unprovoked hardly constitutes assault."

Which is why it is odd that he was charged......

[curlew]

"When you're hauled over the coals because a first grader has run up, grabbed your hand as they walk in to class and tells you about their weekend, a parent sees it and assumes you're doing something unsavory"

Please could you give more details of this incident?

[BoneyBackJefferson]

If it is taken as a single incident then it is not hard to understand why he was charged.

But then which is easier to get a conviction for
a single assault on a child or a sustained campaign of harassment?

its not that hard a question

[Eyesunderarock]

He knows it was an error of judgement, and he knows how harshly he'll be judged. And that he has no defence.
I once broke up a fight between two 11 year olds, both of whom were taller than me and outweighed me. I was 6 months pregnant and stepped between them with my hands out to block the one running at the other. Then he hit me, I sidestepped, he kept going and fell over walloping his nose and his shoulder on the furniture.
There was an investigation. If I hadn't had the parents on my side, in a very tough school, I'd perhaps have faced losing my job too. The parents ensured that the aggressor told the truth about what had happened.

[curlew]

I presume the problem was that the child he pushed was not one of the children who were harassing him?

[Theexisapsychocunt]

I expect he "admitted it" straight away so they had the "evidence" to charge - what I don't understand is how this met the public interest test.

[BoneyBackJefferson]

curlew

that is probably all that happened. A child happy to see her teacher and the parent takes it out or proportion.

[curlew]

It was details of the "hauling over the coals" that I was interested in.......

[Eyesunderarock]

The problem is that he responded physically to a 12 year old, and the proof that they had not been involved in any of the harassment was the other child saying 'It wasn't me'
Because the harassment wasn't taken seriously, then there will be no evidence to match and prove who is telling the truth.
One set of parents I knew had CCTV installed to record the continuous persecution they were receiving as the police didn't think it serious. It was used in evidence when the sons of the house chased off the gang with baseball bats and were accused of assault. The CCTV footage resulted in them having a caution instead of a sentence.