Girl thought teacher would do something bad to children, court told

An eight-year-old girl who claims she was punched twice by her teacher — who also allegedly spat on and pinched other pupils — told police she was unhappy in class because she feared the woman was “going to do something bad to the children”.

A teacher is accused of spitting on and pinching students. Picture: Dylan Robinson.

An eight-year-old girl who claims she was punched twice by her teacher — who also allegedly spat on and pinched other pupils — told police she was unhappy in class because she feared the woman was “going to do something bad to the children”.

The Year 3 student at a southwest Sydney primary school was today required to give evidence in Liverpool Local Court as her former teacher, 57, fights six charges of common assault relating to four of her students in May this year.

The child — the third so far to speak at the Liverpool Local Court hearing — told police that the teacher punched her twice in the shoulder when she was picking up textas after boys in her class had been “flicking” them around and “everybody left textas on the floor”.

“Why did she punch you in the shoulder twice?” the police officer asked.

(An eight-year-old girl who claims she was punched twice by her teacher. Picture: Dylan Robinson

“Cause she said sit on the floor once and then, she said it once but I didn’t hear the first time so she said it twice and then I went to go put the textas back and she just punched me two times,” the girl answered.

She also said that the teacher — who only taught the kids for about three weeks — grabbed her on the wrist “really hard”.

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“One time she was trying to push us into the line and she grabbed hold of my hand and just pushed me into line,” she said.

The police officer later asked: “How do you feel when you go into class and (the teacher) is there?”

“I don’t feel happy,” the girl said.

“Why don’t you feel happy?”

“ … She’s going to do something bad to the children,” she answered.

The teacher is also accused of spitting on another nine-year-old student’s face and scratching another boy on his back.

The girl claimed she also saw the woman grab a boy by the shirt and push him against the wall.

“When she was holding onto (the boy) she was trying to keep him from fighting with (another student)?” the teacher’s lawyer Ian Fraser asked her during cross examination.

“No,” she answered.

She told the court the fight was in the morning and the boy was held by the shirt in the afternoon.

Mr Fraser also put to the girl that the teacher didn’t actually punch her.

He suggested to her that she only told the deputy principal about it after speaking with her mother.

The hearing before Magistrate Daniel Covington will resume in February.