Young boy (4) was allegedly strapped to chair in classroom, court hears

High Court reporters

A four-year-old boy with speech and other difficulties was allegedly strapped to a chair by his teacher in the junior infants class soon after starting school, the High Court has heard.

Describing it as a "quite extraordinary case", Mr Justice Alexander Owens was also told a garda investigation was discontinued after four adults gave statements saying the boy tied himself into the chair.

Details of the case were outlined to the judge after a settlement was reached between the school and the boy's mother who had sued for damages on her son's behalf for, among other things, assault and false imprisonment of their son at the rural school in September 2018.

The parties cannot be named by order of the court.

The settlement was without admission of liability by the school which strongly denied the parents' claims.

The judge said he was was reluctantly approving the settlement offer, which was not divulged in court, because there was a chance if the case had gone before a jury that it would have awarded more than the settlement offer.

He said a jury might not just award aggravated damages (on top of general damages) but also exemplary damages if they thought the four adults who gave statements were not being truthful and had "got together to make these statements".

Noting from reports provided to the court that the child had speech and language difficulties and dyslexia along with a number of other problems, the judge said: "It is rather rather shocking that a child would be held in a chair on two days".

After being shown a photo of the chair, the judge also asked the parents' barrister Eanna Mulloy SC, instructed by Callan Tansey Solicitors, why there was a chair like this in the school, counsel said it appeared to have been left behind after it was used by another pupil who had physical disabilities.

The mother, in her statement of claim, said the staff were made aware of his speech difficulties due to an accident he had as a toddler.

In the first few days the boy was reluctant to got to school and suffered from sleep disturbance but his mother put this down to the new situation at school.

There was an issue with him not being allowed to go out to play during the lunch break as he had not eaten his lunch. A meeting took place with his teacher and a resource teacher when his mother was told he was not settling in, not conforming to the school rules and hiding under the table, it was claimed.

His mother was told he was not ready for school and consideration should be given to putting him preschool for another year.

On September 17th, as he reluctantly agreed to go to school again, it was claimed that his mother and his grandmother found him with a metal rod in his hand in the back seat of the car. When asked what he was doing with it, he replied: "they're very cross and I need it" before it was taken off him.

Later that same morning, it was claimed another parent called to the mother's home to tell her the child had been tied to a chair in the classroom and he didn't like it.

The parents arranged a meeting with the school principal during which they asked to be shown their son's classroom. The principal and a special needs assistant in attendance "hesitated and began to evade the request", it was claimed.

However, the father was a past pupil and knew where the classroom was. It was claimed that when the parents went to the room, they saw various coloured seats grouped around desks but beside the teacher's desk was the chair with belt straps which was identified as their son's chair.

It is claimed that when asked why there were straps on it the principal said it was so that he did not fall out as the chair was particularly light. It was claimed the boy's teacher admitted to strapping him into the chair for an hour on Friday, September 14th, and all day on the following Monday, September 17th.

The boy was taken out and enrolled in another school where it was claimed he had settled in well after getting used to the routine.

Asked by Mr Justice Owens what was the parents' attitude to the offer of settlement, Mr Mulloy said they were satisfied with it and he (counsel) was recommending it.