A Northland teacher who allegedly locked an unruly student in a room, only letting him out when his bus arrived, has been charged with kidnapping, along with five charges of assaulting a child. The four complainants are all pupils.
Counsel Doug Blaikie urged Judge Robert Ronayne to dismiss the kidnapping
charge when the teacher, who has name suppression (as does the school) was called in the Kaikohe District Court on Tuesday. The charge arose from an incident (which came to light in 2013) where the teacher placed two unruly students in what the children called 'the jail room', known to staff as the resource room or time-out room.
Crown prosecutor Richard Annandale said the complainant had been grabbed by the shirt and upper arm, taken forcefully to the room and locked inside.
"He didn't get any lunch, and he was let out when the school van was about to leave," he said.
Schools had a right to their own policies around discipline, he added, but those policies had to conform to the laws of the land, including the Crimes Act. The teacher's actions went beyond what was normally expected in society.
