Mother fined for assaulting teacher

A mother was yesterday fined Lm150 and put on probation for two years after she admitted to assaulting her son's teacher because the boy told her the teacher had slammed him against a cupboard.

Magistrate Consuelo Scerri Herrera ordered that a copy of the judgment - containing transcriptions of evidence in which allegations were made that the teacher had hit her pupils - is sent to the Director of Education to investigate the claims.

The magistrate handed down judgment after Josette Cassar, 38, of Sta Venera, filed a guilty plea to assaulting and slightly injuring Antonella Cardona - a Grade 6 teacher at Dun George Preca school, in Hamrun - last December 14.

The magistrate heard Ms Cardona explain that she was walking out of the school to her car, at about 2.45 p.m., when she noticed Ms Cassar approaching her. The teacher tried to avoid the woman as the two had clashed before.

The teacher said Ms Cassar pushed her but she did not know why. However, Ms Cassar claimed the teacher had hit her son.

Ms Cassar testified that her son had told her that Ms Cardona had grabbed him by the arms and slammed him against a cupboard. This was also confirmed by her son's classmates.

She said she waited outside the school to speak to Ms Cardona and, holding onto the teacher's scarf, she told her not to touch her son. She, however, denied hitting the teacher.

The mother added she later learnt that other parents had complained about the same matter to the head of school and to the education authorities.

The magistrate also heard the evidence of three other mothers whose children claimed they had been hit by Ms Cardona.

Police Inspector Mario Bonello prosecuted.