'Assault' teacher should never have been charged

Published on Thursday 26 November 2009 21:40

SCOTLAND's top judges have questioned why a former teacher, convicted of assaulting his pupils, was ever brought to court.

Former maths teacher Michael Barile was originally prosecuted after an incident in January 2008 in which he grabbed one pupil's jumper and threatened to throw another "through a blackboard".

Yesterday, in what was described as a "test case" on the actions that teachers can take to control unruly youngsters, Barile failed in his appeal against his conviction.

However, the judges sympathised, saying that if he hadn't been a teacher it was unlikely the case would have ever reached the courtroom. And they said it was "difficult" to understand why the original prosecution had been in the public interest.

The ruling comes days after a major government survey revealed violence among pupils is a common occurrence in schools. And teachers' unions demanded that those in the profession be protected from violence and abuse.

Barile said he did not blame the children, but the parents, education officials and the legal system. The 52-year-old was convicted at Dundee Sheriff Court last year of assaulting two 14-year-old pupils in separate incidents at Lawside Academy, Dundee.

In the first, the boy, who had previously been suspended for assaulting Barile, was misbehaving and rude, telling the teacher: "Your breath stinks."

Barile began to note the behaviour, and the teenager demanded to see what he was writing, then grabbed it, refused to return it and threatened to destroy it.

Barile grabbed him by the neck of his shirt and pushed him back a couple of paces, stating: "I'll put you through the blackboard."

In the second, the other boy swore at Barile during a history lesson and called him "a walking penis". He was told to stay behind after class, but when the bell sounded he started to walk out of the room. Barile pinned him against the wall by putting his forearm across the youth's chest.

Following his conviction, for which he was admonished, Barile was dismissed by Dundee City Council. His home was targeted by vandals and his wife was verbally abused in the street.

But a rally in Dundee City Square was attended by about 250 people to highlight concerns over his conviction and pupil indiscipline.

Yesterday, Lord Kingarth, sitting with Lords Mackay and Marnoch, said he agreed with the sheriff at the former teacher's original trial, who had said that if he had not been a teacher, it was unlikely he would have been taken to court.

"Not only do we entirely agree with these observations," said Lord Kingarth, "but we have to say that, even allowing for the fact that he was a teacher, given the extreme provocation which he faced in the form of the complainers' disgraceful behaviour and given the relatively insignificant nature of his physical response, it is, on the face of it, difficult to understand why it was thought to be in the public interest."

As he left court yesterday, Barile said: "I still feel I have not done anything that has merited this kind of treatment to me. It was totally out of proportion."

And he vowed to continue to fight to have the conviction overturned.

If he can persuade the appeal court to reduce the verdict to an absolute discharge, Barile will be able to keep his job with a charity linked to Dundee United – and his seat on the football club's board.

Barile said: "After everything that has happened, I have absolutely no intention of returning to teaching. I have become so disgusted by what is going on in education and the people running it.

"I honestly don't blame the kids. The kids have been the same throughout – the good and the bad and the ugly. The people I blame are the parents, education officials and the whole legal process which, once it has been started, has been like a runaway train."