New details of accusations against ex-Alice Springs principal Gavin Morris revealed
Former Alice Springs school principal Gavin Morris held a student who had thrown chairs in a ‘bear hug’, a teacher claims. He has pleaded not guilty to assault charges in court.
Former Alice Springs school principal Gavin Morris held a student who was kicking a railing and had thrown chairs around a classroom in a “bear hug”, a teacher who witnessed the incident claims, as the child yelled “let me f..king go”.
Alice Springs Local Court also heard on Tuesday that the father of the child was “angry” when he met with Mr Morris about the incident because many people from the school had told him Mr Morris had “manhandled” his son.
Mr Morris – the former head of Central Australia’s largest school for Indigenous students, Yipirinya School – was arraigned on Tuesday, and repeated the words “not guilty” as five counts of “unlawful assault” against children aged under 16 in “circumstances of aggravation” were read out by the prosecutor.
The court heard the five allegations included “choking or grabbing of the neck” in the classroom, and “the pulling of the ear in respect of two different complainants in the course of a single incident”.
The Australian was not allowed into the courtroom, due to a statutory prohibition, while the first child gave evidence about one of the alleged incidents, however the court later heard from a teacher who witnessed Mr Morris gripping the child, and from the child’s father.
Veteran Yipirinya teacher Oliver Tuau outlined how he had called Mr Morris to his classroom one day when a student became “angry and agitated”, and he was unable to de-escalate the situation.
In response to questions from Mr Morris’s lawyer, John Wilson, prosecution witness Mr Tuau agreed that the child started throwing punches and kicking, then slammed the table and told his teacher to “go away”.
Mr Tuau agreed he asked the student “is everything all right” before he started throwing chairs around the classroom, including at another child who told him to “shut up”. Mr Tuau got in the way of the chairs so they “didn’t hit the other students”.
Mr Tuau was concerned students might get hurt, and started moving them out of the classroom towards the kitchen, as Mr Morris approached.
On his way back to the classroom, Mr Tuau saw Mr Morris holding the “still agitated” student from behind, with his hands locked in front of him, as they approached his office.
Judge Anthony Hopkins described his re-enactment as “essentially a bear hug from behind with the right arm (of Mr Morris) under the right arm (of the child), and the left arm over the left arm … over the left arm so held to the body”.
Mr Tuau recalled the child said “let me f..king go” and was kicking off the bars along the railing on the way to the office. Mr Morris continued to hold him as he kicked both his feet off the ground, he said in evidence.
Mr Tuau asked Mr Morris if “everything was all right” and Mr Morris said “Yeah, I’ve got it, you go look after your class”.
Mr Wilson asked Mr Tuau whether there was “any occasion at the school” where he was walking back to the classroom, and “you’ve come across (the student) in the company of Gavin Morris and (the student) has come to you and told you that Gavin has choked him and … asked you to use your phone to call his mother?”
“That never happened,” Mr Tuau responded.
Following his evidence, prosecutor James Moore questioned Mr Tuau’s memory, having earlier recalled seeing “heaps of altercations”.
He also said Mr Tuau, when he came to the Director of Public Prosecutions office on Sunday, had described Mr Morris holding the child in a bear hug closer to the upper chest and clavicle region.
Mr Tuau said he didn’t remember, only recalling that one of the child’s arms was free and one arm was pinned down.
He also said he wasn’t sure exactly which year this particular incident occurred, but that it stuck in his mind because it was “significant” and “definitely out of the norm”.
Earlier, the court heard from the father of the same child who said he was called to pick up his son from school one day following an incident.
“You say you asked whether he had head-locked your son?” Mr Wilson said. “You say he shook it off … then told you he had to remove (your son) from the situation.”
The man agreed, saying the meeting had occurred in Mr Morris’s office a week later with his partner and his son.
He agreed that his partner appeared angry at that meeting.
Mr Wilson asked him whether his partner was angry at Mr Morris “because he hadn’t protected (their son) from the bullies or people that were picking on him?”
After some time, the man responded “Yes. And no. There’s two ways”.
He said: “We were both angry at Gavin. That’s why we went in the week after.”
In response to a question by the prosecution about why he and his partner “were both angry” at Mr Morris, he said “a lot of people from the school have told us he had manhandled (our son)”.
Mr Wilson questioned the father’s memory of the timing of the meeting and whether he took his child out of school the next day, as he recalled.
