Christchurch teacher who punched bar patron 16 times keeps registration

The teacher attacked a patron at a bar in Christchurch. Photo / Getty Images

A teacher with 20 years’ martial arts experience said he was “acting in fear” when he punched a man in the head 16 times.

The teacher was working a second job at a bar when he assaulted the victim, causing him an eye injury that left him unable to work.

A decision by the Teachers Disciplinary Tribunal detailed how the teacher was convicted and sentenced on an admitted charge of injuring with intent to injure following the 2022 incident.

According to the recently released decision, which suppresses the man’s details, he has been a registered teacher for more than 15 years.

At the time of the offending, he was working as a relief teacher at a high school and also at the bar.

By the time the matter came before the tribunal, he was employed at the same school, also suppressed, as a permanent teacher.

Teacher ‘feared for his life’

The Crown’s summary of facts relating to the criminal case was provided to the tribunal and stated that the teacher had been heavily involved in mixed martial arts for more than two decades.

The summary said that about 1am on June 5, 2022, the 49-year-old victim was at a Christchurch bar, where the teacher also worked.

Judge Michael Crosbie sentenced the teacher to five months community detention and nine months supervision. Photo / File

When a fight broke out, the teacher attempted to control one of the males involved.

The victim jumped in and, in an attempt to break up the fight, grabbed the teacher and removed him, not realising he was staff.

However, once the victim realised, he held his hands up and apologised.

The teacher released him and asked the victim to leave the bar. This took around three minutes, with the victim attempting to finish his drink and waiting for his wife and friends to collect their belongings.

As the victim left, he turned to talk to the teacher. Then, without physical provocation, the teacher punched the victim in the face, causing him to stumble backwards.

He then continued to punch the victim 16 times in the face and head.

The victim raised his arms to shield his head during the assault. He was eventually knocked to the ground, where he used his arms to protect his head and body.

The teacher grabbed him by the collar and tried to drag him out of the bar, before using an arm lock and a headlock to remove him.

At the top of the bar’s stairwell, the teacher grabbed the victim by the face and pulled him to the ground, where he was put in another arm restraint.

The assault only ended when the head of security intervened and took the victim outside.

The victim suffered a laceration to his right eyelid and painful eye movement. He’d had blurry vision since the attack and, at the time of the criminal proceeding, was unable to work.

When speaking to police, the teacher said he “feared for his life” after being grabbed from behind by the victim during the initial altercation.

Judge Michael Crosbie’s sentencing notes, also provided to the tribunal, stated that the teacher’s affidavit said “[t]he manner of the assault was a martial arts technique used to disorient a person and was used to assist in ejecting”.

At the March 2023 sentencing, Judge Crosbie said the teacher submitted that the nature of the technique meant that injury was likely, but that it was not gratuitous, nor was serious injury intended.

“I have some difficulty accepting that submission because I have watched the video. As the summary itself points out, there was an earlier altercation. A period of time had passed,” the judge said.

“The victim was, at the time that you engaged with him, no threat to you – no threat at all.

“Watching the manner in which the assault occurred, particularly given the knowledge of your martial arts background and considerable expertise, it appears to me that the force was completely over the top and gratuitous.”

The teacher was sentenced to five months’ community detention and nine months’ supervision.

He was also ordered to pay $3500 in emotional harm payments and $1000 in reparation.

Teacher censured

That same month, the teacher self-reported his conviction to the Teaching Council.

The Complaints Assessment Committee also heard from the teacher that he feared for his life, as he was attacked in the initial altercation and thought he would be attacked again.

“[The teacher] was asked if he was in control in the moment and he responded that he was acting in fear,” the decision stated.

The tribunal decision said the teacher had completed his sentence, and the stopping violence course that came with it. He had also completed a further related course voluntarily and paid the reparation.

“On the facts of the conviction alone, cancellation of registration may have been the outcome,” the tribunal found.

“However, when all of the facts relating to [the teacher] are taken into account, we are prepared to step back from that.”

Instead, the teacher was censured, the register was annotated for three years, and a condition to provide any teaching employer with the tribunal’s decision was added to his practising certificate for the same period.

The tribunal ruled that because the man’s conduct was not a teaching matter, it outweighed the public interest in open reporting of the case, resulting in suppression of his identity and any information which may lead to his identification.

Brianna McIlraith is a Queenstown-based reporter for Open Justice covering courts in the lower South Island. She has been a journalist since 2018 and has had a strong interest in business and financial journalism.