Dad takes matters into his own hands after teacher allegedly assaults his child

About 50 distressed students watched as a father caused havoc after he discovered a teacher – who his daughter alleged sexually assaulted her – had not been stood down.

A 35-year-old man has faced court for causing havoc at a high school in Hervey Bay after his daughter told him a female teacher had “assaulted her repeatedly in class”.

The Hervey Bay local, who cannot be named for legal reasons, pleaded guilty in the Hervey Bay Magistrates Court to making threats and wilfully disturbing the good order.

The incident went down after he demanded the teacher who had allegedly “assaulted” his daughter be removed from her role.

On March 24, 2021, the man attended the school and when told the teacher was still employed, he and “took matters into his own hands”.

“He then demanded the teacher be removed from the school and was told that this was not possible,” Police Prosecutor Sergeant Kim Harwood said.

The court heard the man then started banging on the staffroom door, calling for the teacher when another teacher, who was about to go into the staffroom, saw him and called for help.

“He yelled ... ‘Where the f**k is (the teacher)?’,” Sgt Harwood said.

The courtroom heard staff were then forced to be locked inside the staffroom for safety, while about 50 students watched on “visibly distressed”.

“He continued to yell out the teacher’s name and was approached by the principal, two deputy principals ... and the school-based police officer,” Sgt Harwood said.

About 50 “visibly distressed” students watched as a Hervey Bay father caused a scene at their school after he discovered a teacher - who his daughter alleged a teacher ​had “repeatedly” sexually assaulted her in class - had not been stood down from her role. Picture: Isabella Magee

He was asked multiple times to leave the school, leaving the grounds after threatening one of the male teachers.

“(He said to the male teacher) ... ‘I don't give a f**k about who you are or what you say’, he then moved closer to the victim, within two metres and pointed out to him and said ... ‘I'll take you down, there's no worries about that, you keep staring at me like that, I'll drop you.’,” the court heard.

“The (man’s) wife approached him, de-escalating the behaviour ... He was followed by the school-based police officer where a conversation was had, during which the (man) indicated that he was going to bring the school into lockdown to draw media attention to his daughter‘s assault case.”

The man apologised for his actions in court.

“The complaint was put in two weeks previous to me going in, a sexual assault (complaint), and the teacher was still teaching at school ... I’m sorry, I didn’t go to cause distress at the school purposely, I felt that the whole situation was being swept under the rug and I wanted the teacher out,” he said.

“I tried to make complaints with the police ... unfortunately, they told me they had no control over whether or not the teacher stays at the school or not.

“Once I realised that there was a lot of children present, I did move away, my partner pointed out (the children present) to me pretty quick, I was fairly heated.”

A conviction was not recorded and the man was given 12 months of good behaviour.

Originally published as Dad takes matters into his own hands after teacher allegedly assaults his child