A Learning Support Educator (LSE) who dated a 13-year-old student at the school where he worked was cleared of defiling her after a court found no sexual acts were committed and that no lewd acts had occurred.
Magistrate Audrey Demicoli ruled that the evidence presented in court, especially that of the girl herself, did not prove the charges brought against the LSE.
Still, the court recommended that the educator is not allowed to work with teenagers or young students.
The court, which banned publication of the educator’s name, that of the girl and of her friends who testified, heard how the man, aged 22 at the time, worked as a supply learning support educator and playworker in a government school.
The Police Vice Squad began investigating when it received a report from a mother of one of the girls about a Facebook chat group in which the children and the teacher would exchange messages, including rude words and images of “illicit substances”.
One of the girls testified that she attended the same school where the man worked but he was not her LSE or of any student in her class.
They began to frequently see each other that summer, describing herself as his girlfriend.
No sexual acts were committed
She told the court there was nothing more than kissing and some fondling but no sexual relations.
On the Facebook group chat, she said this had been created by the educator to thank the group of friends for supporting the girl at a time when she was worried she had missed her menstruation cycle despite not having had sex with the accused.
Her friends all confirmed this version of events when testifying in court. The LSE told the court he was in a relationship with the girl but confirmed there were no sexual activities and denied fondling her breasts.
Magistrate Demicoli said that for the charge of having participated in sexual activities with a minor to stand, the court had to ascertain that a lewd act had been performed and that actual defilement occurred.
Reviewing both local and foreign case law, the court concluded that this was missing, noting that when although he once fondled her breasts, that cannot be considered to be a lewd act.
If anything, it would have amounted to violent indecent assault, which was not what he was charged with, the court noted, clearing the LSE of all the charges.
The court, however, said that the man should have never started a relationship with a student who attended the same school where he worked and neither should he have started a Facebook chat group.
“This court considers that it is in the best interest of both the accused and the students that he is not given duties in schools where there are teenage girls or women of his age or close to his age,” the magistrate noted.
It heard an Education Department representative saying the LSE had no contact with minors in his current employment.
Lawyers Franco Debono and Marion Camilleri were the defence counsel.