April 27, 2010
Teacher Peter Harvey shouted 'die, die' as he hit misbehaving pupil with dumbbell
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article7108423.ece
A stressed teacher “went mad” and tried to kill a pupil by bludgeoning him with a dumbbell and shouting “die! die! die!”, a court was told yesterday.
The schoolchildren secretly filmed themselves teasing Peter Harvey, a science teacher, who snapped under the provocation and attacked the 14-year-old boy after dragging him from a lesson.
The teenager, who cannot be named for legal reasons, suffered a fractured skull and bleeding to the brain after being struck with the 3kg weight. He spent five days in hospital recovering from his injuries. After his arrest the 49-year-old science teacher told police he believed he had “killed the boy”.
The father of two denies attempting to murder the pupil and causing grievous bodily harm with intent, but has pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of causing grievous bodily harm.
Opening the case for the prosecution, Stuart Rafferty told the jury that the attack happened at All Saints Roman Catholic School in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, shortly after Mr Harvey had returned to work after time off for stress.
“Some of the pupils regarded him as a soft touch and tried to push the boundaries with him, but that does not justify what was to happen,” he said.
Nottingham Crown Court was told that Mr Harvey had been a teacher at the secondary school for 16 years, but his career had been disrupted in December 2008 when he told an education adviser he felt his actions “could not be trusted and he might cause harm to someone”.
He was sent home and visited his doctor before being signed off from school suffering stress and depression.
In April last year he returned to work where, Mr Rafferty said, he appeared “happy and well” with his symptoms under control. But while taking a year 9 class of 13 to 14-year-olds the attack took place.
“The victim took up a wooden metre rule and began a sword fight with it. He then took up a metal Bunsen burner stand and was waving it about.
“Mr Harvey chased him around the classroom, then the boy told him to, f*** off. That lit the blue touch paper.
“In a general description, he went mad, grabbed the boy by the collar and dragged him out of the classroom. Mr Harvey dragged the boy across the room, across the corridor and into a preparation room.
“He threw him to the ground and having armed himself with a 3kg dumbbell kept in there, began to hit the boy about the head. He struck him at least two blows and dealt him serious injury.
“At the time, or very shortly after, he was heard to say, ‘die! die! die!’”
Mr Harvey was said to have been kneeling over the boy raining down blows with the weight from shoulder height.
Another pupil had tried to drag the teacher away, but Mr Harvey hurled the weight at the pupil, just missing him, it was claimed.
Footage secretly filmed on a mobile phone by a female pupil captured the moment Mr Harvey lost his temper after the pupils had taunted him. He is heard shouting as pupils giggled before one said: “He’s being a bit of a psycho.”
The school’s CCTV system captured Mr Harvey dragging the boy across the corridor into a side room and later leaving the room with his fists clenched. Another teacher found the boy lying on the floor with “a gaping and heavily bleeding wound”.
Mr Rafferty added: “Whether the children that day were defiant, insolent or unco-operative, no right thinking person could think what happened to that boy was deserved or justified.”
Mr Harvey was found in the classroom in a “considerable state of stress” with his fists were clenched, his eyes narrowing and still shouting ‘die! die! die!”
He was taken to the headmaster’s office, making low howling noises and repeating, “I’ve killed the boy”.
Police arrested the teacher and he was taken to a local police station where he sat banging his head against a TV monitor.
He told officers that he could recall the boy being on the floor and striking him twice, then dropping the weight when distracted by a noise.
He said: “I felt as though I wasn’t there. It was as though I was watching television.” He admitted at that stage he thought the boy was dead.
The jury heard the teacher first became stressed two or three years earlier when he pushed a pupil who was abusing a teacher into a bush.
He told a colleague he had been “very tired for a year” and had become very negative and snappy.
Teacher Peter Harvey shouted 'die, die' as he hit misbehaving pupil with dumbbell
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article7108423.ece
A stressed teacher “went mad” and tried to kill a pupil by bludgeoning him with a dumbbell and shouting “die! die! die!”, a court was told yesterday.
The schoolchildren secretly filmed themselves teasing Peter Harvey, a science teacher, who snapped under the provocation and attacked the 14-year-old boy after dragging him from a lesson.
The teenager, who cannot be named for legal reasons, suffered a fractured skull and bleeding to the brain after being struck with the 3kg weight. He spent five days in hospital recovering from his injuries. After his arrest the 49-year-old science teacher told police he believed he had “killed the boy”.
The father of two denies attempting to murder the pupil and causing grievous bodily harm with intent, but has pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of causing grievous bodily harm.
Opening the case for the prosecution, Stuart Rafferty told the jury that the attack happened at All Saints Roman Catholic School in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, shortly after Mr Harvey had returned to work after time off for stress.
“Some of the pupils regarded him as a soft touch and tried to push the boundaries with him, but that does not justify what was to happen,” he said.
Nottingham Crown Court was told that Mr Harvey had been a teacher at the secondary school for 16 years, but his career had been disrupted in December 2008 when he told an education adviser he felt his actions “could not be trusted and he might cause harm to someone”.
He was sent home and visited his doctor before being signed off from school suffering stress and depression.
In April last year he returned to work where, Mr Rafferty said, he appeared “happy and well” with his symptoms under control. But while taking a year 9 class of 13 to 14-year-olds the attack took place.
“The victim took up a wooden metre rule and began a sword fight with it. He then took up a metal Bunsen burner stand and was waving it about.
“Mr Harvey chased him around the classroom, then the boy told him to, f*** off. That lit the blue touch paper.
“In a general description, he went mad, grabbed the boy by the collar and dragged him out of the classroom. Mr Harvey dragged the boy across the room, across the corridor and into a preparation room.
“He threw him to the ground and having armed himself with a 3kg dumbbell kept in there, began to hit the boy about the head. He struck him at least two blows and dealt him serious injury.
“At the time, or very shortly after, he was heard to say, ‘die! die! die!’”
Mr Harvey was said to have been kneeling over the boy raining down blows with the weight from shoulder height.
Another pupil had tried to drag the teacher away, but Mr Harvey hurled the weight at the pupil, just missing him, it was claimed.
Footage secretly filmed on a mobile phone by a female pupil captured the moment Mr Harvey lost his temper after the pupils had taunted him. He is heard shouting as pupils giggled before one said: “He’s being a bit of a psycho.”
The school’s CCTV system captured Mr Harvey dragging the boy across the corridor into a side room and later leaving the room with his fists clenched. Another teacher found the boy lying on the floor with “a gaping and heavily bleeding wound”.
Mr Rafferty added: “Whether the children that day were defiant, insolent or unco-operative, no right thinking person could think what happened to that boy was deserved or justified.”
Mr Harvey was found in the classroom in a “considerable state of stress” with his fists were clenched, his eyes narrowing and still shouting ‘die! die! die!”
He was taken to the headmaster’s office, making low howling noises and repeating, “I’ve killed the boy”.
Police arrested the teacher and he was taken to a local police station where he sat banging his head against a TV monitor.
He told officers that he could recall the boy being on the floor and striking him twice, then dropping the weight when distracted by a noise.
He said: “I felt as though I wasn’t there. It was as though I was watching television.” He admitted at that stage he thought the boy was dead.
The jury heard the teacher first became stressed two or three years earlier when he pushed a pupil who was abusing a teacher into a bush.
He told a colleague he had been “very tired for a year” and had become very negative and snappy.
