Teacher 'Possessed' During Dumb-Bell Attack

Teacher 'Possessed' During Dumb-Bell Attack

news.sky.com

A teacher accused of battering a 14-year-old schoolboy around the head with a 3kg dumb-bell was "possessed" at the time of the attack, a court has heard.

In an interview with police, replayed at Nottingham Crown Court, the witness, now 15, said: "He was unusually scary, it wasn't normal.

"It was like something had possessed him, you could see he wanted to kill him, sort of thing"

(visit the link for the full news article)

This is a strange one indeed. I remember when the incident first happened, I recall reading that the teacher in question was usually a very nice one, a fave among the pupils. This was most unusual.

What reason could someone act “possessed” though? A seizure of some kind maybe?

Maybe he just snapped, I wouldn’t advocate beating someone with a dumbbell, but I wouldn’t blame a teacher for having a go at some of the gobby pupils they have to put up with these days.

CX.


news.sky.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

My guess is that the teacher just snapped. I used to have a reall sweet teacher back in elementary school who snapped at a student by throwing a desk chair at him. It was weird because she did not even look like herself when it happened.

Just my two cents. I guess anger - especially repressed rage - can probably manifest itself so that the individual feels like they don't have any control over themselves.

After going to school in Doncaster in the uk and not liking the little #es I shared a class with and seeing the little bar-stards that are roaming the streets now I would guess that the only person not possessed in that class room was Harvey. The guy had serious mental health probs from what I heard and was given a class of windup merchants. The kid doesn't deserve to be battered with dumbbells but you can see how it could happen if your already "on the edge" before the day starts.
A classic example of little or no support for teachers while the kids run the class.

I'm not saying what he did was right, but I can fully sympathise with why he did it.
As far as I can tell, his class were taking bad behaviour to new levels, completely ignoring him, therefore it is easy to see how and why he snapped.
He shouldn't have reacted as he did, but when the red mist descends, all logical thought vanishes.

Well this is a suprise!

A teacher has been cleared of attempting to murder a pupil he attacked with a dumb-bell.

The jury at Nottingham Crown Court took less than two hours to clear father-of-two Peter Harvey.

The court heard how some pupils were planning to wind up the physics teacher so his reaction could be caught on camera and passed around students.

The 50-year-old finally flipped after a 14-year-old who was being disruptive in class told him to "f*** off".

He took the boy into a back room and slammed the weight into his head while shouting "die, die, die".

Source: Teache r Cleared Of Attempting To Murder Pupil

This one has me stumped.

Whilst i am glad the teacher was cleared, how can he be cleared of all charges and walk free after giving a pupil a beating with a dumbell?

Does "snapping" allow a person to react like that without any comeback?

I know there is a lot more to this case than just a teacher hitting a pupil, but i am just suprised that there was not even a conviction of assault?

I am of the thinking that the jury have spoken for everyone one of us who is fed up with gobby kids being disrespectfull in class.

CX.

[edit on 29/4/10 by CX]