A lesson learnt in negligence
It has been revealed that a teacher has been found guilty of professional negligence.
Prosecutors have indicted a teacher and an Upper School, over an accident that left a karate club member at the private school with serious brain impairment, the victim's parents revealed.
The victim, now 18, suffered a concussion during club activities on July 10, 2007, but the teacher, who is in his 40s, made him do additional training. Although the student complained of headaches the next day, the teacher again ordered him to participate in training, sources said.
The student as a result, collapsed and fell into a coma. He now attends a special-needs school.
Accepting his parents' complaint, police sent papers on the teacher in June 2008 to the prosecutors, who charged him with professional negligence resulting in bodily injury at a Summary Court on December 25th 2009.
Hike turns to death
In similar news, a teacher and his school could face criminal charges over the drowning death of a teenage schoolgirl, during a Ten Tors training exercise.
The incident occurred when the teen died by drowning, in March 2007. The female died while hiking during severe weather conditions as part of the Ten Tors endurance expedition.
Her death came after her teacher ignored the tearful pleas from her team to abandon the trip. The 14-year-old girl subsequently drowned after she fell into a swollen river at Walla Brook on Dartmoor, as she threw her friends rucksack across the water, while struggling to cross the 12 foot wide river.
Several of her school friends, from the independent Edgehill College, now known as Kingsley School, in Bideford, told the inquest they felt “pushed” by their teacher to continue despite their repeated and tearful requests to stop.
On Thursday, nine days after the inquest opened, Dr Earland, the Exeter and Greater Devon coroner, halted proceedings, announcing the case was being referred to the Director of Public Prosecutions because she felt there was a criminal case to answer.
She said she was satisfied that there was a likely chance that a charge of gross negligence manslaughter would be brought in the case.
The inquest had earlier heard that the victim was one of pupils who were training for the annual Ten Tors event, that involves more than 2,000 young people walking up to 55 miles between 10 of Dartmoor’s granite outcrops. Run by the Army, the trial is considered a character building exercise for teenagers from across the country.
One of the victim’s teammates, now 17, told the hearing she felt "pushed" by the teacher: “Most of us were in tears. He said if we carry on, if we get through that day, we will find it easy, the real thing,” she said. “We were really angry that we could not come off the trip.” She had “never been so scared" when her friend fell into the river, she added.Updated on 1/6/2010