Suspended jail term for mother who assaulted headmaster

A woman was given a nine-month jail term suspended for two years after she admitted to assaulting the headmaster of her daughter's primary school by hurling an umbrella at him four months ago.

Magistrate Doreen Clarke also placed the woman, Doris Azzopardi, on probation for two years.

"It is unacceptable that a parent resorts to violence to resolve a misunderstanding or matter between a teacher and a child...," the magistrate said.

Ms Azzopardi, 35, admitted to threatening, assaulting and throwing the umbrella at Raymond Cassar, the headmaster of a Valletta primary school on, February 27.

At her arraignment, Ms Azzopardi argued that she had overreacted when she heard that the headmaster had punished her seven-year-old daughter by making her spend an afternoon kneeling in the playground.

What made the matter worse was the fact that the girl suffered from a knee condition and the headmaster had been informed about this.

The headmaster explained in court that he felt "terrorised" when Ms Azzopardi told him she was ready to kill him and tried to assault him at his office on parents' day. She insulted him and later hurled an umbrella at him but missed.

Mr Cassar explained that when Ms Azzopardi went to his office and insulted him, he gathered, by the way she was speaking, that she was upset over what had happened during the dismissal session.

He explained that, during the dismissal, he had told Ms Azzopardi's daughter and another boy to kneel down during the Hail Mary because they had been fighting.

He added that they only knelt down for the duration of the prayer, that is about 20 seconds, and further explained that this was not the first time students were punished this way for misbehaving. He said he was never told the girl had a knee condition.

Police Inspector Pierre Micallef Grimaud prosecuted.

Lawyers José Herrera and Veronique Dalli were defence counsel.

Lawyer Pawlu Lia represented Mr Cassar.