Estimated reading time: 2 minutes
A teacher accused of head butting and punching a 13-year-old disruptive pupil was today cleared by a court of common assault.
Graham Davies, 55, of Aveton Gifford, south Devon, denied common assault on the boy at a comprehensive school on December 3 last year.
The chairman of Totnes Magistrates in south Devon, Anthony Bailey, said: “We believe Mr Davies’s evidence in its totality.”
The chairman said there was no indication of predisposition to violence “in his long and dedicated career”.
Davies silently mouthed “thank you” to the three magistrates when he was cleared.
Mr Bailey said they did not find the evidence of the boy totally credible, having regard to inconsistencies between his written statement and his evidence in court, in particular by his constant denial of the high level of disruption before and during the lesson, which clearly continued in the corridor.
The boy, who had an 88-page disciplinary record, claimed Davies head butted and punched him after he was excluded from the class at the south Devon school.
Davies, with a 30-year unblemished teaching record, said he twice pushed the boy – the second time in “sheer frustration” – after excluding him for disruptive behaviour from an art and design class.
In a statement on Davies’s behalf after the case, solicitor Neil Scott said the case “illustrates just how difficult it can be for teachers to do their job.
“False allegations are easily made and acted upon.