A PE teacher with a 20 year unblemished record has been found not guilty of assaulting a trouble-making student who made a malicious complaint against him.
Graham Halsey, 42, was falsely accused of trying to strangle the unruly student on 21st May 2018.
Deputy District Judge Mark Layton heard that Mr Halsey, who had worked at the unnamed Cardiff high school for four years, had challenged the boy over his poor behaviour only a couple of hours before the alleged assault was said to have taken place.
Matthew Greenish, prosecuting, told the court that the boy had to walk past Mr Halsey to access the school's 3G football pitch that lunchtime. Mr Halsey tried to stop the boy for a chat about his earlier poor behaviour.
The court heard the pupil ignored him, ducked underneath his arm, which was raised to try and block the entrance gate, and "barged" past him on to the pitch.
When he was interviewed, the teenager said Mr Halsey "strangled" him and pulled him off the pitch "hard".
He told the police: "Me and my mates walked to the football pitch. They all went in, but he stood in my way to stop me going on.
"So I went under his arm, but he put his arm around my neck and grabbed my shoulder from behind. He pulled me off the pitch."
Asked how he felt, the teenager replied: "Angry. I wanted to punch him in the face. He strangled me."
And questioned about whether he said anything to his teacher, the potty-mouthed student replied: "I'll press charges against you, you dickhead. You strangled me you f*****g c**t."
Mr Greenish told the court that school policy was that physical restraint was to be used as a last resort.
"The prosecution say it was not a last resort in this case", he added.
Mr Halsey, who gave evidence, had a very different recollection of events that day.
He told the court he was supervising around 60 students on the 3G football pitch that lunchtime. He was stood in the gateway to the pitch when the boy approached and he tried to raise the earlier bad behaviour. The boy enjoyed PE lessons and Mr Halsey wanted to discuss the earlier bad behaviour as the pair normally had a good relationship.
Mr Halsey said that the boy got angry when he tried to speak to him and he put his arms out in an effort to stop the boy running through on to the pitch.
He added: "He pushed me in the chest, backwards on to the pitch."
Jeffrey Jones, defending, asked: "Did you try and grab his neck?" Mr Halsey replied: "I did not, no."
Asked how the incident made him feel, he replied: "Scared and surprised. Surprised he got so aggressive so quickly. I was concerned for the pupils behind me."
He said he used physical contact both in self-defence and in a bid to maintain order.
In a statement read out in court, Headteacher Armando Di-Finizio confirmed he had never received any complaints about Mr Halsey or had any concerns about his conduct.
Deputy Headteacher Kay Lewis said she was called to the incident after Mr Halsey reported he had been assaulted by a pupil. When she arrived, the pupil claimed it was the other way around.
Said she was "not surprised" the boy was involved, as he had been in trouble in the past.
Mr Jones also highlighted that CCTV footage of the incident contradicted the boy's account and suggested that either his memory was "unreliable" or motivated by "malice".
Judge Layton said: "I do not consider this amounts to assault and I find you not guilty of the charge, which is now duly dismissed."
Mr Jones said: "We asked the Crown to re-consider this prosecution in light of the CCTV and complainant's school record, but within their entitlement, they chose to carry on."
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