Teacher had sex with Leaving Cert student in her mother's bed, tribunal told
A schoolteacher had sex with a Leaving Cert student in her mother's bed and his car after sharing explicit photos with her on Snapchat, it is alleged.
The then 18-year-old said she was 'naive and vulnerable' when her class head teacher started an inappropriate relationship with her in the months before she sat her exams.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Irish Times
3 hours ago
- Irish Times
‘He was in a position of power': Student tells inquiry she realised later that ‘sexual relationship' with teacher made her vulnerable
A Teaching Council inquiry panel has retired to consider allegations of a sexual relationship between a teacher and a student. The complainant has told the Teaching Council that when she was an 18-year-old student a teacher at her school had sexual encounters with her on four to six occasions between March and June 2018. She also alleges she and the teacher sent communications to each other on Snapchat, the social media app, many of which were of a sexually explicit nature, including photos of a penis and nude photos of the complainant. The teacher was not present at the proceedings on Tuesday. READ MORE At the inquiry the complainant gave evidence about six videos that were played to the panel at the inquiry and were recorded by a trusted university friend of the complainant in March 2022 on the friend's phone. The complainant said she began seeing matters from an adult perspective during her first year in college. It was then she came to believe the teacher's conduct breached ethical standards. 'It was quite difficult to recognise that I was in a vulnerable situation. I have a lot of guilt. [The teacher] was in a position of power. He was trained. He could have dealt with the situation differently,' she said. She said she was attending counselling over the interactions and was now scared of seeing the teacher. The complainant further gave evidence that the teacher also followed her on Instagram and 'liked' her posts between 2020 and 2022. She also said a girl in her year in the school sent her a picture from March 2017 of a Tinder profile under the name 'Muinteoir', which the complainant alleges was that of the teacher. She claims it shows both parties had 'matched' with each other. After hearing legal advice, the panel has retired to consider the claims and whether, if proven, these amount to a finding of professional misconduct and/or a breach of the Code of Conduct for Teachers.
Sunday World
6 hours ago
- Sunday World
Teacher who allegedly had sex with teen said ‘I only f**ked one student', inquiry told
LATEST | The then-18-year-old student, who claims the teacher 'groomed' her on Snapchat before starting a sexual relationship with her Stock image: Getty The then-18-year-old student, who claims the teacher 'groomed' her on Snapchat before starting a sexual relationship with her, said he never showed any remorse about what happened or acknowledged any potential harm in it. She said he had been in a 'position of power as an educator' and knew she was vulnerable when they had sex up to six times, while it was 'not my responsibility to set boundaries and repel his advances.' The complainant, known as Ms A, concluded her evidence today in a fitness-to-teach inquiry being held by the Teaching Council. The case will be decided by an inquiry panel which retired to begin deliberations this afternoon. The man is accused of professional misconduct and breaching the Code of Professional Conduct for Teachers, which he denies. It is alleged he inappropriately added Ms A on Snapchat in October 2017 and had contact with her on the platform up to June 2018, sending her messages, pictures and memes of a sexual nature. He allegedly had an inappropriate sexual relationship with her between March and June that year, and provided her with alcohol. It is further alleged that he touched and kissed her best friend in a pub on sixth year graduation night in May 2018, and also inappropriately contacted her on Snapchat. Ms A last week told the hearing the teacher, 10 years her senior, worked at her school and she did not have classes with him but he gave her grinds before adding her on Snapchat. Their messages became increasingly intimate before they began exchanging explicit photos - he would send her 'd**k pics' while she sent nude photos of herself, she said. They had sex four to six times - in her mother's bed, his car and at his apartment - she said, and he sent Snapchat messages including: 'Should f**k soon', and 'car sex later'. Today, Ms A said when she was in college she grew 'more uncomfortable' about what had happened. She confided in a 'trusted' college friend, Ms C, and asked her to be there when she got back in touch with the teacher on Snapchat in 2022. 'We engaged in conversation which enabled me to scroll through our chat history which (Ms C) recorded with her mobile phone,' she said. Ms A asked the teacher about his new job at another school, and he allegedly said: 'I'm just a normal teacher now, no more recklessness.' Ms A took this to mean inappropriate sexual relationships with students. He told her he had 'had to get out of' where he had been teaching. 'It wasn't good for me, ha ha, good for my sex life alright, but that's it ha ha,' he said. When she said to him he had got with so many students back in the day, he replied: 'excuse me, I only f**ked one student, ha ha.' She took this to mean herself. Ms A said she had hoped the teacher would acknowledge that what happened was harmful to her but he did not. 'I didn't get any sense that (he) recognised even the potential risk of harm in making sexual advances on a student,' she said. Ms C said in a statement that Ms A had been 'worried about other potential victims." It was 'playing on her mind' that she had 'brought the whole thing on herself' and Ms C told her this was not the case and the teacher was 'a freak.' The teacher has not attended the inquiry in person and is not required to do so. In a pre-inquiry submission, he questioned the the credibility of Ms A's account, said her case was 'weak' and there was 'nothing to suggest he had anything other than an exemplary record of teaching,' Neasa Bird BL, for the director of the Teaching Council, said the teacher had had a position of responsibility to Ms A and to act in her best interest, not to 'exploit his position." Over a protracted period, he 'effectively steered a Leaving Cert student towards a sexual relationship' with lewd, suggestive, flirting messages before proceeding to a physical sexual relationship which he facilitated by encouraging her to consume alcohol. 'These actions were extremely grave and have evidently had a profoundly adverse effect on Ms A,' Ms Bird said. The behaviour "clearly" amounted to "disgraceful or dishonourable conduct." While the teacher did not admit the allegations, there had been no cross examination of the witnesses so their evidence was 'uncontroverted," she said. Solicitor Eoin McGlinchey, for the teacher, said his client was assumed to be innocent and the inquiry panel could not draw any adverse inferences from the fact that he did not give evidence. Mr McGlinchey argued that there must be 'doubts' over the dates Ms A gave for the alleged misconduct. She initially said it took place on dates after she was a student at the school, and later changed this. He also asked the panel to consider a 'heartfelt' letter Ms A wrote to Ms B in June 2018 when she 'specifically denied' any sexual relationship with the teacher. Mr McGlinchey said there were 'inconsistencies' in Ms A's statement which meant the allegations could not be proven beyond reasonable doubt. Ms Bird responded that Ms A had 'simply made a mistake' with the initial dates and the messages all had the correct date stamp in 2018, when she was still a student.
The Irish Sun
11 hours ago
- The Irish Sun
Urgent warning over vapes laced with deadly ‘zombie drug' – as children rushed to hospital
VAPES laced with the deadly 'zombie drug' spice are turning up in British schools and leaving kids in hospital. Wiltshire cops say tainted vapes flogged on Snapchat are flooding schools, leaving kids suffering seizures and terrifying personality changes. 4 Vapes laced with deadly 'zombie drug' spice are popping up in UK schools Credit: Getty 4 Kids smoking the drug are being left in hospital Credit: Getty "I'd urge parents to have conversations with your child about the dangers and risks as well as what happens if they do use a vape which is contaminated with something," PCSO Jon Akehurst, said in a "Make it clear that if you do take these things, it has an impact on your life. However, it is usually much stronger than cannabis, causing terrifying side effects like seizures, heart attacks, and breathing trouble. Read more on spice Victims also suffer dizziness, It has been nicknamed the 'zombie drug', with some of the poorest parts of Britain seeing streets littered with near-unconscious addicts . Cops fear that Spice is now sweeping schools across the UK after reports of kids collapsing in Middlesbrough , Yorkshire and Scotland . Now they're using new gadgets in schools to sniff out the dodgy vapes and keep children safe. Most read in Health It comes as the ban on single-use vapes has come into effect, part of a tough crackdown designed to stop kids from getting hooked and reduce waste. Police raid largest spice vapes operation after kids were left hospitalised The force is working with Bath University, Swindon Borough Council and Wiltshire Council to test any suspected contaminated vapes to mitigate any further risks to students. Officers are urging parents to talk to their children about the dangers of using contaminated vapes after the discovery. "If you are concerned about your child, there are people that can help and support you," Jon added. "Unfortunately, with spice there can be many different reactions. "We've seen vomiting and behaviour changes, and we've had an incident where there were concerns that a child was having a fit. "The reactions can be very, very broad. Behaviour changes seem to be the biggest concern for schools, with students being fine before lunch, but after lunch they are elevated in aggression, say," A shocking study last year found that one in six vapes confiscated from school children in England was found to be laced with the 'zombie drug' spice. 4 Spice is a lab-made drug meant to mimic cannabis, but it's far stronger and more dangerous Credit: Not known, clear with picture desk Meanwhile, Public Health Wales reported testing 196 vape e-liquid samples, finding over a third contained synthetic cannabinoids. In March, Professor Chris Pudney, an expert in biotechnology from the University of Bath, conducted tests using the world's first portable device that instantly detects synthetic drugs. Working with concerned schools and police forces, he tested 596 confiscated vapes and discovered Spice at 28 out of 38 (74 per cent) of schools across London, the West Midlands, Greater Manchester and South Yorkshire. What is Spice? The synthetic cannabinoids collectively known as Spice are made up of a range of amphetamines and other laboratory-created chemicals that vary wildly from batch to batch. Users smoke, drink or eat Spice, often in tea. Before the ban on psychoactive substances in 2016, it was being sold either over the counter or online under a variety of brand names such as Annihilation and GoCaine. It is highly addictive with withdrawal symptoms said to be worse than coming off crack or heroin. Users can suffer vomiting, seizures, terrifying hallucinations and severe psychotic episodes after consuming the drug, according to the NHS. Other side effects can be severe and unpredictable. They include inability to move, dizziness, and breathing difficulties. Chest pain and heart palpitations are common. Extreme anxiety, paranoia, and suicidal thoughts may occur. Psychosis and stomach problems like vomiting or diarrhea can happen. In some cases, acute kidney injury is reported. Spice appears particularly rife in Birmingham and Manchester, where a number of users have been hospitalised after taking the drug. The substance is sometimes dubbed the "zombie drug" because of the effect it can have on users, who are often seen staggering around. An The substance was declared unfit for human consumption by the very person who invented it. Organic chemist John Huffmann accidentally created it in 2006 when searching for a new way of developing anti-inflammatory medication. Two years later the substance began surfacing on websites, usually advertised as a form of incense or plant fertiliser. The drug has been described as similar to cannabis but others have cited effects more like powerful hallucinogenics such as LSD. An even more dangerous crystal form emerged in 2017, believed to be around 20 times more potent than the "usual" strain. About one in six (16.6 per cent) of the vapes contained Spice, while roughly one in 100 (1.17 per cent) contained THC, the psychoactive component of cannabis. 'Some have come quite close to death' Earlier this year, pupils from Unity City Academy in Middlesbrough were hospitalised after using contaminated vapes. Meanwhile, Back in 2019, nine teens collapsed after unknowingly vaping synthetic cannabinoids. And in March, Dan Griffiths, 40, from South Shields, has seen first-hand the damage spice vapes can cause after his 14-year-old son Ash smoked one earlier this month, and collapsed. 'Ash had no idea what was in it,' Dan revealed. 'After a couple of puffs, he collapsed, and his friends were standing there laughing at his reaction. 'Thankfully, a passing nurse saw it and called an ambulance. 'Since then, he's had six seizures, and we're constantly in and out of the hospital. It's changed his life forever.' 4 Ash Griffiths, 14, collapsed after puffing on a vape laced with zombie drug spice Credit: NNP Professor Pudney said: "Teenagers think they are purchasing vapes or vape fluid containing THC or nicotine when, in fact, they are laced with Spice. "We know children can have cardiac arrests when they smoke Spice, and I believe some have come quite close to death. "Headteachers are telling me pupils are collapsing in the halls and ending up with long stays in intensive care. "This is not just a niche, one-off occurrence that happens in a school far away from you, this is something common. "As we go into the school holidays, if we can have an open dialogue and talk with children about the risks they face, then they've got a chance of making a different choice."
