Halifax teacher and assistant ‘taped girl of 7 to chair and locked her in storeroom’

The young girl also had Post-It notes taped taped to her thumbs to stop her sucking them, was locked in a storeroom, had her shoes tied to her feet and was “goaded” with a biscuit, the court heard.

Teacher Deborah McDonald, 41, and teaching assistant Rachael Regan, 43, have both pleaded not guilty to a charge of cruelty to a person under 16 and are standing trial at Bradford Crown Court.

The court heard that between September 2012 and January 2013, the schoolgirl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was “singled out and bullied” by the pair at a school in Calderdale.

Simon Waley, prosecuting, told the jury that from November 2012 the mother of girl recalls she “started to speak about not liking her teacher and was more clingy than usual”.

He said: “She says that the girl told her that Mrs Regan had put Post-It notes on her thumbs when she had been sucking her thumb. She also told her that she had string bound to her legs and feet to keep her pumps on.”

Mr Waley added: “She described an occasion in January [2013] when at school collection time the girl had run out to her crying. She had told her that she had been tied to a chair with Sellotape by a teacher. She said she could not move. She said that the class had been laughing at her and that she was the ‘class clown’.”

When the girl’s mum contacted the school about this, the school began to investigate and the police were called in, the court was told.

When interviewed by police, the court heard that when asked about the Sellotape the young girl said “that Mrs Regan had put it all around the chair and it was hard breathing. She said that she couldn’t get out to reach her things and the whole class were laughing.”

In interview, she told police about the incident with string on her pumps and said that “everybody had been laughing”, the prosecutor said.

“She also described an occasion when Mrs Regan had put her chair in the store room (next to the classroom) and had shut the door leaving her inside, “said Mr Waley.

The court heard that a support assistant at the school was present when the girl was taped to the chair, and remembered that her arms were fastened by her sides.

Mr Waley said: “She indicates the girl was taped to the chair for more than 10 minutes.”

She was also present for the Post-It note incident and the string incident, where the girl was made to stand on a chair, Mr Waley said.

Mr Waley said: “Overall, the staff member felt the girl was being singled out and bullied by these defendants on a regular basis.”

The support worker also described an occasion when the girl wasn’t given a biscuit, because she hadn’t finished her work, and the Regan and McDonald “began to goad the girl with how delicious they were”, the court heard.

The jury heard of an occasion when McDonald allegedly dropped the girl’s doll into a drawer and kicked it shut, and of an occasion when Regan allegedly took a photo of the girl of the wall and ripped it up in front of her.

A classroom assistant said she recieved a Christmas calendar from McDonald that included pictures and comments about the girl.

Both women were arrested on interviewed on February 6, 2013.

Regan, of Illingworth, West Yorkshire, told police that the Post-It note incident had not been malicious.

Regarding the Sellotape, Regan said the girl had been fidgety that day and she had said light heartedly that she would stick her to the chair.

Mr Waley said: “She was asked whether she should have used the Sellotape and she said that, in hindsight, she shouldn’t have done it but she thought it was going to be a bit of fun.

“The defendant said tht she thought she had a really good relationship with the girl. She said she was a ‘cheeky monkey’.

Regan accepted the calendar wasn’t appropriate, but again thought it was a bit of fun. She said that the door had been shut in the storeroom after the girl wandered in.

“She denied that she and Mc Donald had ever bulled the girl,” said Mr Waley.

McDonald, of Halifax, said in interview that he calendar was intended to be a happy memory of the term.

Mr Waley said: “She said that in hindsight [the taping incident] was not an advisable thing to do.”

She described when the girl was made to stand on a chair in front of the class as “positive attention” for her.

Mr Waley said: “The prosecution say that they wilfully ill-treated her, in that the persued a course of conduct in which their systematic treatment of her amounted to bullying.

“Both were playing a part in this course of conduct, even if they did not each play a physical role in each of the acts complained of.”

The trial continues.