Appeal court confirms Lm400 fine on teacher

An appeal court yesterday confirmed a Lm400 fine imposed on a playschool teacher after one of her toddler students fell down the stairs when she left a class of 29 children unattended.

Lorenza Dimech was found guilty of involuntarily causing bodily harm to five-year-old Nicholas Stivala at Bambi Playschool, St Julian's, on January 14, 1998.

Mr Justice Joseph Galea Debono heard how the incident occurred when Dimech had told her students she was going downstairs, to the secretary's office, to collect some papers and that she would not be gone for long.

The classroom was situated opposite the stairwell. While Dimech was away, Stivala went out of the classroom and ended, unconscious, on the bottom step. After the fall the boy was in danger of dying but he made it through, suffering permanent head injuries as a result.

Dimech appealed the original judgment claiming it was an unpredictable accident and, therefore, she could not be held criminally responsible.

She also claimed she had acted responsibly. She had not asked the teacher of the neighbouring class to look after her students, as was the school's common practice, because that would have put the children of the other class at risk.

The judge said he was sure Dimech had no intention of allowing the accident to happen. However, one could predict that if five-year-olds were left alone they would be up to some sort of "mischief".

The judge also noted that the fact that Dimech did not want to endanger other students by asking their teacher to look after her class proved that she was aware of the existing danger.