An Aberdeenshire primary teacher accused of assaulting two young children has been acquitted of all charges.
The 55-year old teacher, who cannot be named due to legal restrictions, was alleged to have attacked two boys over the course of 18 months.
It was claimed the woman had dragged one child across the floor leaving him with carpet burns.
She was also said to have “launched” a child three or four feet across a classroom into a radiator.
During a three day trial at Aberdeen Sheriff Court witnesses described watching as the alleged abuse took place.
A classroom assistant who worked side-by-side with the teacher gave evidence to the court on Monday claiming she was “horrified” as she watched the teacher drag one boy 10 feet across the classroom floor in July 2019, which resulted in “carpet burns”.
She also claimed she saw the teacher restrain the boy by sitting on him as she continued to teach the primary school class.
In another incident, reported by the same assistant, she alleged a separate child struck a radiator after being forcibly “launched” by the teacher.
But this afternoon the teacher’s solicitor, Emma Toner entered a no case to answer submission to the court on the grounds that no “evil intent” could be attributed to her client and physical contact with children was “part of the routine”.
The defence lawyer contested that much of the evidence against her client provided by witnesses “cannot be borne out” and that it is a “leap” on the part of the Crown Office to suggest certain incidents are “violent attacks”.
She also suggested the woman has shown no background of “rage or anger”.
Ms Toner’s submission was upheld by Sheriff Eric Brown, who said that handling the child “recklessly or accidentally” does not constitute an assault or that evil intent had been established.
He added: “I’m not satisfied that it is a matter of law that the case has been made in one or any of these charges that I have underlined.
“The submission will be upheld in its entirety.”
Ms Toner had earlier made the argument that there was “more to an assault than simple contact”.
She added that there “must be proof of evil intent” and this is “not the situation here even if the contact occurred”.
The lawyer continued: “Evil intent could be enacting, but it isn’t here. On a number of charges it is not corroborated by the witnesses that a crime has occurred or that the teacher is responsible for that – where is the evidence?”
Fiscal depute Lynne MacVicar had attempted to persuade Sheriff Brown of a pattern of abuse towards one child, who had severely complex learning needs, by citing one instance of the boy being “forcibly” pushed back into a chair and argued that the behaviour showed “deliberate attacks on these children”.
Ms MacVicar also suggested that two charges faced by the teacher were “strikingly similar” and that the overall behaviour was “way over and above what is acceptable”.
However, a pupil support assistant giving evidence told the court that although the teacher “roughly” handled the child it was proportionate to stop him disrupting the rest of the class, which was accepted by Sheriff Brown.
A spokesperson for Aberdeenshire Council commented: “We note the outcome of court proceedings and will now conclude our internal investigation on this matter. Liaison with the appropriate professional bodies is also ongoing.”
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