Criminal justice

It's been sub-judice up to now, but I'm delighted to report that a teacher friend was finally exonerated today of charges of assault on a 3 yr old pre-school laddie in the playground, through a summary trial.

The essence of the story is that my pal spotted from the school window a stray toddler playing unattended by the unstable stand of her 600cc motorbike in the open school carpark. Knowing her bike could crush him, she went out to check his safety and supervision, and when he saw her coming he took off towards the main road, where (unbeknownst to my friend) his mother was chatting. My friend tried to grab the kid to stop him running into traffic, and this was subsequently inflated into a assault charge. The kid's mother admitted in court that she'd lost sight of her toddler on a road, and stated (unbelievably) that if her child had been crushed by the bike it would've been his own fault, and that would've been OK. Life is cheap on that estate. Far worse was that her child's behaviour might have received intervention by a stranger- that (in truth) was the assault.

In his judgement of Not Guilty, the sheriff (m'lord) stated that the prosecution case was an example of political correctness gone mad, and should never have been taken to trial. It was a waste of public money, has ruined a long-serving teacher's career and robbed needy pupils of a teacher for 10 months while she's been suspended awaiting trial. And he was right. Our lawyer commented that it was a shame reporters hadn't been present to record the verdict.

A toast tonight to my friend, after 10 months of stress and suspension, but for whom this issue is not over. For trying to save from harm an unattended child, she was arrested at her home, taken to a police station, fingerprinted, photographed and charged. Her career is in tatters and she can't return to her previous school. We were led out a back entrance by a courtroom policewoman, who'd heard the alleged victim's mother telling her sister that she'd beat up my friend if she met her outside. O tempora o mores.