Former teacher who orally raped student struck off for minimum of 20 years by Teaching Council

Seán McCárthaigh

A former secondary school teacher who was convicted of the oral rape of one of his students over 30 years ago has been struck off from the register of teachers.

An inquiry panel of the Teaching Council directed that the teacher, Patrick Joseph Bardon, be removed from the register and barred from re-applying to be eligible to teach for 20 years after it concluded his offending was “fundamentally incompatible” with the teaching profession.

Bardon was given a 10-year prison sentence with the final two years suspended in October 2023 after being convicted following a six-day trial of 11 charges of oral rape of one of his male students on dates between October 1992 and March 1994.

The identity of the student and the name of the school where Bardon was teaching cannot be published on direction of the inquiry panel.

The former teacher of English, who is currently serving his prison sentence at the Midlands Prison in Portlaoise, did not attend the inquiry and was not legally represented.

Announcing the inquiry’s findings on Monday, the panel’s chairperson, Adrian Guinan, said Bardon’s offending was “at the very highest end of the spectrum of wrongdoing” and represented “an egregious breach of trust".

Mr Guinan said the former teacher had demonstrated a pattern of grooming over a 20-month period which involved getting his victim to watch pornography.

He said the teacher should have been aware of the vulnerability of his victim and how his conduct could inflict lifelong injuries.

The chairperson said the sanction was imposed in order to protect the public and specifically children as well as the reputation of the teaching profession and the integrity of the regulatory process.

He also noted that Bardon had been assessed as being at a moderate risk of reoffending.

Mr Guinan said the panel had taken into consideration that Bardon previously had a blemish-free record and was relatively young when the offences took place, while he was also caring for his father at the time.

He also acknowledged the teacher had demonstrated insight and noted the Teaching Council’s sanction was not designed to further punish the teacher who had already received a custodial sentence and had lost his job.

The inquiry heard Bardon had written to the Teaching Council in which he stated he fully accepted that the regulatory body would remove his name from the register and prevent him from teaching.

Bardon, who is now in his mid-50s, said he would not contest the allegation that his criminal conviction for the offence of rape affected his fitness to teach.

The teacher told the Teaching Council that he did not believe any more time or money should be spent on the matter and urged it to reach its conclusions as quickly as possible.

He also asked that publicity about the case could be avoided.

Bardon acknowledged that the inquiry into his fitness to teach was “an open and shut case".

He also accepted that he must live with the consequences of his actions for the remainder of his life and asked the Teaching Council to take his punishment of a prison sentence into consideration.

In an earlier submission, counsel for the Teaching Council, Joanne Williams BL, had urged the inquiry panel to send out a message about the unacceptability of the teacher’s conduct.

Ms Williams said it had been “utterly reprehensible” and “incompatible with the teaching profession".

She outlined how the offending had taken place in the teacher’s house when one of his male students was helping him to correct mock papers.

She said the offending began when the student was aged 15 and the accused was aged 23.

Ms Williams said aggravating factors were the student-teacher relationship and the significant breach of trust.

She said the student had provided a victim impact statement to the court in which he outlined how the offences had profoundly affected his life.

She said the victim had contemplated suicide while what happened had also affected his relationship with his parents. He also suffered sleep disturbance, flashbacks and nightmares.

The inquiry heard that Bardon, who had no previous convictions, had subsequently apologised unreservedly to his victim and expressed disappointment with himself at the sentencing hearing in the case.

Ms Williams said the judge accepted the teacher’s remorse was genuine.

If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this article, you can call the national 24-hour Rape Crisis Helpline at 1800-77 8888, access text service and webchat options at drcc.ie/services/helpline/ or visit Rape Crisis Help.