CHARGE OF ASSAULT

Evening Post, Volume CXX, Issue 138, 7 December 1935, Page 6

CHARGE OF ASSAULT

TROUBLE AT SCHOOL

EDUCATION BOARD ACTS

DEFE2\ TDANT A WOMAN

A disturbance that occurred at the Ohariu Sch<tpl on October 17, when, the school teacher was alleged to have been assaulted by the guardian of one of the boys, a woman, was thrashed j out in the Magistrate's Court yesterday afternoon, before Mr. W. F. Stilweil, S.M. Mrs. Ivy Reher was charged that she assaulted Mrs. Gladys Ethel Stone at Ohariu on October 17, and also that she insulted the teacher in the presence of her pupils on the same date. Mr. R. Hardie Boys appeared for the defendant, and Mr. Gr R. Pqwles represented the Wellington Education Board. Mr. Powles said that the informations were laid as the result of a disgraceful disturbance which took place at the Ohariu School on October 17. One information was laid by Mrs. Stone, alleging common assault, under a section of the Justices of the Peace Act, and the other was laid by the Wellington Education Board under Section 157 of the Education Act, 1914. The Ohariu School, was a .small school conducted by a sole teacher. There was one classroom and there were 23 pupils whose ages ranged from six to 14 years. There were also girls in the class. One of the pupils was suspended for failing to bring a written excuse for his absence on the Monday afternoon :before the alleged assault. In accordance with the requirements of the Education Act this suspension was subsequently confirmed by the school committee and the Education Board. On the morning oi October 17, at about 9.10 a.m., the boy, who was the nephew of the defendant and lived with her, came into the schoolroom and took his seat. Mrs. Stone vtas going over some lessons with other pupils, -and she asked him whether he had brought the written excuse. He said he would not leave; but his aunt was in the porch outside. Mrs. Reheivcame in and stood at the door and said to the boy, "Don't you dare leave, stay where you are."' Then she demanded an explanation as to why her nephew had been suspended. She appeared to be extraordinarily angry and was talking extremely fast, so it was difficult to understand what she was saying. She was asked to leave and refused, stating that she .had as much right there as anyone else, and as much right as Mrs. Stone, who was only a "school mann," and an incompetent one at that. Mrs. Stone then told two of the older boys to go and get two men to come up, but Mrs. Reher stood' with , her hand on the door knob and her arm across the door, and dared anyone to leave the room. Then. Mrs. Stone told the boys they would have to get out somehow,,and they pushed Mrs. Reher away from the door. It was.submitted that they were justified in doing that, because she was a trespasser and had no right in the school, as she had been requested to leave and had refused. , Mr. Powles stated that Mrs. Reher then completely lost what shreds of temper stillr- Temained with her, arid came: towards: Mrs;: Stories;.- with her right fist clenched arid -uplifted. She said to ■ Mrs. Stone, : "You lipsticked ——" and then struck her on the cheek/ Then she pushed Mrs. Stone against a desk so that her head struck the desk behind and her feet went up in the air. While Mrs. Stpne was lying there she was punched on the chest and stomach by Mrs. Reher. Mrs. Stone called for assistance, and after a struggle'in which some of the bigger. b6ys were kicked and': hurt, they managed to help Mrs. Stone to her feet.' At this "stage help arrived in the shape of a man who had been called by the boys. No further assault . was committed, but Mrs. Reher remained in,the, schoolroom for some time while Mrs. Stone sent two boys out with instructions to ring the police constable at Johnsonville and ask him to come out to Ohariu. When. Mrs. Reher heard this, she left the school, and Mrs. Stone cancelled her. instructions. On the following day Mrs. Reher went to. seethe secretary of the Education Board. She said she was in great distress .over what had- occurred, and did not know what to do. The secretary, who was not then in possession of the full facts of the case, .told her that if he were in; her position he would apologise. Mrs. Reher wrote an apology and sent it to the school committee, but in the meantime, the committee had passed' a resolution handing the matter over to the Education Board, and the apology was returned. When Mrs. Reher called on the secretary a second time, she was told that the Education Board had decided that the only thing to do was to prosecute as the occasion was one of- such seriousness from the point of the effect that it would have on the children. TEACHER'S EVIDENCE. In evidence Mrs. Stone corroborated facts of the alleged assault as outlined by counsel.: She said that she had been at the school since February 14. There were now 24 pupils there—ll boys and 10 girls. Mrs. Stone described how Mrs. Reher had asked her why she had a grudge against the boy. "The woman's attitude was so threatening that I became apprehensive for the safety of the children and myself," stated the witness. ."I decided the best thing to do was. to get. the children out of school, so I asked two of the senior boys to ask two men who were working nearby to come up to the school. Mrs. Reher dared the boys to leave the room. They were too big to get out of the window, and as everyone in the room was terrified, I said they must get out even if they had to use force. The result was that the boys brushed Mrs. Reher aside and got out." ■

The witness said Mrs. Reher was talking volubly, and she asked her to leave the classroom as she was making an exhibition of herself in front of the children. Mrs. Reher said: "You're only the school mann and a very incompetent one at that. You're nothing but a lipsticked ." i

Mrs. Reher then came over and struck the witness on the left side of the face with her clenched fist; She dodged the second blow, but was then knocked into a blackboard standing on an easel/ While she was trying to get to the door to open it, Mrs. Reher gripped her by the throat and pushed | her backwards over the desk so that iher head struck the desk behind and her heels, came into the air. Mrs. Reher punched her on the chest and stomach, and at that stage some of the boys came to her assistance, and pulled Mrs. Reher away, giving witness an opportunity to regain her feet and open the door. Mrs. Reher was still fighting with several of the boys, but they dispersed and gof to the door. Then Mr. Ponting arrived. He told Mrs. Reher that she was not acting in the right manner and advised her to leave the school.

The witness marched the children outside and remained outside herself, the boy still keeping his seat in the classroom. She then called two of the big boys and told them to go to the nearest neighbour and ring up the Johnsonvillc constable. Mrs. Kchcr

heard this and came out of the school. As she came round the corner of the building she said: "Get inside, you , and your nigger brats." THE BOY'S SUSPENSION. Describing the events which had led up to the suspension of the boy, the witness said the children were told to attend a concert rehearsal.. The boy was absent, and the children said he had gone home. The next morning, when asked why he had not' put in an appearance at the hall, he said she called him by his surname and that he had gone home. The witness told, him to get a written explanation for his non-appearance, and in the meantime suspended him. Quoting to the Court from her log book, Mrs. Stone said she had suspended the boy because his conduct on the whole was unsatisfactory, she had found him to be untruthful,,she did not consider the reason he had given verbally as satisfactory, and she wished to have an explanation in writing to determine who had the responsibility for the boy going home. Pending an explanation, she had considered suspension was the best disciplinary measure for the boy and the school. The school committee and the Education Board : subsequently confirmed this suspension. Mrs. Stone said she had bad-eight years' teaching experience, and' it was the first time in her career that she. had suspended a: pupil: She could honestly, say he was the most undisciplined pupil-she had ever met in all her teachings career. Cross-examined by Mr. Hardie Boys, the witness denied :that she had exaggerated any part-of the incident. She had no bitterness over, the subject, and did ' not. feel vindictive .towards Mrs. Reher at all.. It was correct that she had had a complaint from Mrs. Reher regarding the calling of the boy by his surname, but she called some of the- older boys by their surnames. "My instructions are that this boy has been treated by this teacher as a pariah dog;" said Mr. Hardie Boys in reply to a question from the Magistrate, v ■■■■■. ;'..;■■. ' :r. REMARKS IN LOG BOOK. Mrs. Stone \yas cross-examined at length'regarding her entries in the attendance book concerning the boy, and also her remarks in the log book, counsel suggesting that the entries in tha attendance book had been altered, and that the log book had been written up after the incident oh October 17. This was denied by the witness. Under further, cross-examination Mrs. Stone said Mrs. Reher had made no explanation at any time, regarding her presence in the classroom. > She had made no endeavour to put her, out. Mr. Hardie Boys: Mrs. Reher, will say you tried to push her out and then called two of the boys to throw her out. . The witness: That's not true, Mr. Boys. I never use'language like that. Mrs. Stone added ■ that ■ the whole school was terrified. ■■.-.- Regarding the boy, Mrs. Stone said that he was asked six times to'leave his seat, but refused to budge. Then she asked two boys: to-assist her to remove him. He offered little' resistance. ■•'.-■'■'■ ':■'::■■■ After Edward Stace Hyltpn, secretary of the Wellington Education Board; Reginald Howard Alfred Best, chairman of the school committee ,and six scholars had; given evidence, the hearing was adjourned until Tuesday, morning. ■ •