Accused teacher 'regularly assaulted' by pupils

An art teacher on trial for wounding a pupil's thumb with a glue stick told yesterday how she was regularly assaulted by pupils herself.

Lynda May, 54, of Neath, South Wales, said she had been bitten, kicked, punched and pushed by pupils who also swore at her daily.

In a serious assault in 2007 she was bitten by a schoolgirl with such force she had major bruising down one arm.

Jurors at Swansea Crown Court were passed photographs of the injury today which showed the extent of the bruising at the time.

"We couldn't release her jaws, it lasted quite a long while so it was quite painful," she told the court.

Ms May went on trial on Monday accused of causing actual bodily harm to a schoolboy with a glue stick. She denies the charge.

Ms May, a mother-of-three, was suspended from school within a month of the incident and charged by police on October 23.

She broke down in court as she described the events leading up to what she insists was an "accidental" injury to his thumb nail.

The schoolboy was taken to hospital with his wound after the incident last September and told the injury was "superficial".

Prosecutor Patrick Griffiths yesterday described the injury as "relatively minor".

He acknowledged the pupil, who had a reputation for unruly behaviour, was "prone" to slamming down his fist on tables in frustration.

At the time of the incident the class had been sticking cut-out patterns on to a large piece of paper using glue sticks.

When the teenager became frustrated at his lack of progress he slammed the glue stick down on the table and hit Ms May's hand.

Ms May is accused of losing her temper and retaliating by slamming down the same glue stick on the pupil's thumb, injuring his nail.

Speaking today in her own defence she rejected any suggestion that she had lost her temper.

She said she had taken the glue stick and banged it down on the table to demonstrate how not to act and show up his bad behaviour.

"I told him he had hurt me and banged the glue stick on the table, then said 'see, it doesn't get you anywhere'."