The headmaster of a boys' secondary school has not gone to work for nearly three months because of the trauma he suffered in violent assaults committed on him and other teachers, a court heard yesterday.

Giovanni Pace testified that attacks on teachers including himself had left a most negative impact on him and caused him to stay away from school, the boys' secondary in Naxxar.

His testimony was heard in the compilation of evidence against 26-year-old Don Axiaq of San Ġwann who is pleading not guilty to assaulting Andrew Cauchi, a teacher at the school, causing him slight injuries and threatening to use violence against him on April 17. He was granted bail against a personal guarantee of €1,000.

The court heard that in roughly the same period, other teachers were attacked.

Taking the witness stand, the doctor who originally diagnosed Mr Cauchi as suffering from slight injuries said he changed the diagnosis to serious injury after the wounds took more than six weeks to heal. Mr Cauchi was left with a scar across his face.

The court heard how the son of Mr Axiaq's partner had gone to school complaining of a stomach ache.

Mr Pace told the boy that he would wait an hour to see if the ache would pass and he would then call his parents. After an hour, Mr Pace found the boy playing football in the playground.

Mr Cauchi said the boy kicked a ball in his direction and it hit his leg causing him great pain since he had undergone surgery to his leg.

He said he told the boy that he would snap his neck because of the intense pain that he had caused him.

The following day he was attacked by Mr Axiaq who told him, before punching him in the face: "I will show you whose neck you'll snap", Mr Cauchi told the court.

The case continues.

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