Latest news with #EoghanCole
Sunday World
36 minutes ago
- Sunday World
Student denies female teacher ‘groomed' him but they had sex after Leaving Cert
Now in his 20s, the man was giving evidence at an inquiry into alleged professional misconduct by the teacher at a Dublin school in 2018. A young man has denied that his female English teacher 'groomed' him while he was a Leaving Cert student, although they had sex in a hotel after the exams were finished. The then-18-year-old said apart from the single sexual encounter with the teacher, they were not romantically involved before or since and denied that they exchanged daily Snapchat messages while he was still at school. He also insisted he had no reason to tell 'untruths' in an attempt to 'protect' her. Now in his 20s, the man was giving evidence at an inquiry into alleged professional misconduct by the teacher at a Dublin school in 2018. She is denying allegations that she had a romantic relationship with the student that summer and exchanged photos or videos with him on Snapchat every day between June 14 and his final Leaving Cert exam on June 20. It is claimed the daily messages continued while he was awaiting his exam results, until August 14 that year. Photo: Getty Today's News in 90 Seconds - July 4th She is also alleged to have had a sexual encounter with him on a date in early August, and though she accepts this took place, she maintains it was a 'one-off" and did not amount to misconduct. The fitness-to-teach inquiry is being held by the Teaching Council following a complaint by the school principal, after the woman's ex-partner discovered the alleged affair and reported it to her colleagues. The council says the allegations amount to 'disgraceful or dishonourable professional conduct of such seriousness as to bring the profession into disrepute' and are contrary to the Code of Professional Conduct for Teachers. Today, the former student gave evidence that one night in August, 2018 he was at a pub with work friends in Dublin city centre when he noticed the teacher and approached her. 'I walked over and maybe said hello," he said. "We were talking for a while and we just ended up going to a hotel near where we were.' The teacher's barrister Eoghan Cole SC asked him if there was a 'connection" as they talked. 'Yeah maybe,' he replied. He did not think anything physical happened in the pub, but agreed there was 'flirting.' They both decided to leave together but he was not sure which of them suggested it. He was not involved in any pre-booking of the hotel room and was not sure if the teacher had booked it. 'We just ended up spending the night, I don't remember how that happened, or who suggested it, maybe I did,' he said. 'During the course of when you were in the hotel, you had sex together,' Mr Cole asked. 'Yeah,' the witness replied. He was 'pretty sure' the next morning the teacher left before him. They did not exchange numbers and had no contact of any kind before or since, he said. He knew nothing about the allegations until his former principal phoned his parents in 2019. He said when he heard it was alleged there was 'grooming going on' his reaction was: 'that's not me, that's nothing to do with me.' 'That is completely false,' he told the inquiry, and he 'wanted to clear it up.' Snapchat messages purporting to be between him and the teacher were submitted and he denied this was his account, saying he was not using the platform at the time and never had his teacher as a friend or contact on any social media. He also denied he had ever been at the teacher's house or that they had spent another night together in her car, as had been claimed. Cross-examined by Eoghan O'Sullivan BL, for the director, the witness said he had only ever had a normal 'teacher-student relationship' with the woman, who taught him in fifth and sixth year. He said he had no reason to tell untruths to protect her as 'I don't really know her outside of what happened that night, and school.' He was asked about Facebook messages alleged to have been between the woman's ex- partner and him in early September 2018. The ex was alleged to have tried to phone him after finding the teenager's messages to the teacher. 'Who the f**k are you and why are you texting my girlfriend?', the ex had said, explaining: 'Your teacher, you little muppet. I seen the messages.' The teenager allegedly replied: 'Just talking to her about absolute bollocks because I get on with her. Nothing more than that, if that's what you're thinking. (She) is my teacher, pal, there's hardly anything going on with her.' These messages were 'completely inconsistent' with his assertion that he had no other contact with her, Mr O'Sullivan said. The witness said he could not say for sure if it was him in the messages as he did not remember it, and did not recognise the Facebook profile. Mr O'Sullivan put it to him that it would have been a 'memorable event' if he had a sexual encounter with someone who was recently his teacher and her irate partner contacted him to 'get to the bottom of' what was going on. Mr O'Sullivan also said it would have been 'unusual' if he and the teacher did not kiss or touch before they got to the hotel, if there was no form of relationship already. The witness replied he just 'wouldn't be like that in general' in public. He did not 'tell his mates' about the sexual encounter, saying 'it wasn't really that big a thing for me, to be brutally honest.' The inquiry was told earlier that the teacher is now working at a different Dublin school. Chairperson Fergal McCarthy adjourned the hearing which will continue on a later date. When it concludes, a disciplinary panel will assess the evidence and if the allegations are found to be proven, potential sanctions range from "advice" on future conduct to removal of a teacher from the register.
Sunday World
5 hours ago
- Sunday World
Student denies female teacher ‘groomed' him but had they had sex after Leaving Cert
Now in his 20s, the man was giving evidence at an inquiry into alleged professional misconduct by the teacher at a Dublin school in 2018. A young man has denied that his female English teacher 'groomed' him while he was a Leaving Cert student, although they had sex in a hotel after the exams were finished. The then-18-year-old said apart from the single sexual encounter with the teacher, they were not romantically involved before or since and denied that they exchanged daily Snapchat messages while he was still at school. He also insisted he had no reason to tell 'untruths' in an attempt to 'protect' her. Now in his 20s, the man was giving evidence at an inquiry into alleged professional misconduct by the teacher at a Dublin school in 2018. She is denying allegations that she had a romantic relationship with the student that summer and exchanged photos or videos with him on Snapchat every day between June 14 and his final Leaving Cert exam on June 20. It is claimed the daily messages continued while he was awaiting his exam results, until August 14 that year. Photo: Getty Today's News in 90 Seconds - July 4th She is also alleged to have had a sexual encounter with him on a date in early August, and though she accepts this took place, she maintains it was a 'one-off" and did not amount to misconduct. The fitness-to-teach inquiry is being held by the Teaching Council following a complaint by the school principal, after the woman's ex-partner discovered the alleged affair and reported it to her colleagues. The council says the allegations amount to 'disgraceful or dishonourable professional conduct of such seriousness as to bring the profession into disrepute' and are contrary to the Code of Professional Conduct for Teachers. Today, the former student gave evidence that one night in August, 2018 he was at a pub with work friends in Dublin city centre when he noticed the teacher and approached her. 'I walked over and maybe said hello," he said. "We were talking for a while and we just ended up going to a hotel near where we were.' The teacher's barrister Eoghan Cole SC asked him if there was a 'connection" as they talked. 'Yeah maybe,' he replied. He did not think anything physical happened in the pub, but agreed there was 'flirting.' They both decided to leave together but he was not sure which of them suggested it. He was not involved in any pre-booking of the hotel room and was not sure if the teacher had booked it. 'We just ended up spending the night, I don't remember how that happened, or who suggested it, maybe I did,' he said. 'During the course of when you were in the hotel, you had sex together,' Mr Cole asked. 'Yeah,' the witness replied. He was 'pretty sure' the next morning the teacher left before him. They did not exchange numbers and had no contact of any kind before or since, he said. He knew nothing about the allegations until his former principal phoned his parents in 2019. He said when he heard it was alleged there was 'grooming going on' his reaction was: 'that's not me, that's nothing to do with me.' 'That is completely false,' he told the inquiry, and he 'wanted to clear it up.' Snapchat messages purporting to be between him and the teacher were submitted and he denied this was his account, saying he was not using the platform at the time and never had his teacher as a friend or contact on any social media. He also denied he had ever been at the teacher's house or that they had spent another night together in her car, as had been claimed. Cross-examined by Eoghan O'Sullivan BL, for the director, the witness said he had only ever had a normal 'teacher-student relationship' with the woman, who taught him in fifth and sixth year. He said he had no reason to tell untruths to protect her as 'I don't really know her outside of what happened that night, and school.' He was asked about Facebook messages alleged to have been between the woman's ex- partner and him in early September 2018. The ex was alleged to have tried to phone him after finding the teenager's messages to the teacher. 'Who the f**k are you and why are you texting my girlfriend?', the ex had said, explaining: 'Your teacher, you little muppet. I seen the messages.' The teenager allegedly replied: 'Just talking to her about absolute bollocks because I get on with her. Nothing more than that, if that's what you're thinking. (She) is my teacher, pal, there's hardly anything going on with her.' These messages were 'completely inconsistent' with his assertion that he had no other contact with her, Mr O'Sullivan said. The witness said he could not say for sure if it was him in the messages as he did not remember it, and did not recognise the Facebook profile. Mr O'Sullivan put it to him that it would have been a 'memorable event' if he had a sexual encounter with someone who was recently his teacher and her irate partner contacted him to 'get to the bottom of' what was going on. Mr O'Sullivan also said it would have been 'unusual' if he and the teacher did not kiss or touch before they got to the hotel, if there was no form of relationship already. The witness replied he just 'wouldn't be like that in general' in public. He did not 'tell his mates' about the sexual encounter, saying 'it wasn't really that big a thing for me, to be brutally honest.' The inquiry was told earlier that the teacher is now working at a different Dublin school. Chairperson Fergal McCarthy adjourned the hearing which will continue on a later date. When it concludes, a disciplinary panel will assess the evidence and if the allegations are found to be proven, potential sanctions range from "advice" on future conduct to removal of a teacher from the register.
Irish Times
a day ago
- Irish Times
Teacher at Dublin school and ex-partner's relationship deteriorated during alleged romantic involvement with student
Evidence was heard of the severe deterioration in relations between a teacher, who was allegedly romantically involved with a student , and her ex-partner, during the second day of a fitness-to-teach inquiry. The inquiry concerns allegations that the woman, who taught English in Dublin school, was in a romantic relationship with a Leaving Certificate student during the summer of 2018. It is further alleged that she and the student exchanged messages on the social media app Snapchat on a daily basis from June 14th to June 20th, 2018, while he was sitting his Leaving Certificate examinations and subsequently until August 14th, while he awaited his results. The teacher denies these allegations. The director of the Teaching Council also alleges that the teacher had a sexual encounter with the student on a date unknown in early August 2018, to which the teacher has admitted. READ MORE Under cross-examination by Eoghan Cole SC, for the teacher, her ex-partner alleged that the teacher cut the wires to security cameras at their home so that he could not see the student coming to the property, which he said neighbours told him they saw. He also said that the teacher damaged the handles of doors in their home, which he reported to the gardaí, and that she set up a fake account on a dating app from which she messaged him. He also said that he considered the Snapchat messages from the teacher to the student as amounting to grooming. Mr Cole provided evidence of email exchanges between the witness and the teacher from May 2019, involving the payment of bills. The witness made threats that he would put pressure on the Teaching Council and the Board of Management of the school and indicated he would organise a rally outside the school. 'You are evil and greedy. What goes around comes around,' he wrote in one email. The witness responded: 'You must remember things were difficult in the house, I was trying to buy her share in the house, there was bitterness and acrimony.' Mr Cole also put it to him that he had not been consistent regarding the dates he attributed to certain incidents in written statements he provided to the Teaching Council. The incidents included an alleged conversation between the teacher and her ex-partner in which he alleged that she admitted on the day she returned from a post Leaving Cert results trip organised by the school that she spent that night with the student. Mr Cole, who repeated the denial of the teacher that this conversation took place, further put it to the witness that his lack of consistency regarding the dates when these events took place was a basis for contending that they did not take place. The witness replied that the events did take place but that he could not be certain regarding some dates. Further evidence of the emotional toll of the inquiry became apparent when another former colleague of the teacher at the west Dublin school, and who was 'quite' close to her, gave evidence. The witness, along with another colleague who gave evidence on Wednesday, were told in October 2018 by the teacher's then partner that the teacher was or had been having an affair with the student. The witness recalled how she and her colleague then phoned the teacher from a car outside the school building. 'We were concerned for [the teacher's first name]. She answered but she was quite incoherent,' the witness said, and who after trying to compose herself before the panel, was allowed to leave the room for a time, before resuming her evidence. The chairman, Fergal McCarthy, reassured the witness: 'We understand how emotionally charged this is.' The witness, whose relationship with the teacher was now 'over', further outlined how she and her colleague, after finding out that the teacher had not informed the principal of the sexual encounter with the student in early August 2018, went to the principal with this information. 'We couldn't sit on the information, we thought we'd get into trouble. We were very naive as regards whether he was still a student in the school,' she said. The inquiry continues on Friday.
