An acting assistant principal of a school in Viti Levu, convicted of beating a female student with a mop stick last year, has had his four-month prison sentence suspended for two years.
The teacher, who had taught in the school since 1992, pleaded guilty to a count of assault committed on a 17-year-old student.
Court records show that between 2 am and 3 am at the school dormitory, the victim and her friends were walking from dorm 1 to dorm 2 when the man called out to them. When the victim ignored him, he followed and repeatedly struck her on the back with a mop stick, causing injuries.
The victim later went home, informed her parents, and reported the matter at Lami Police Station. She was medically examined, and the accused admitted the offence in his caution interview.
Magistrate Timoci Qalinauci refused the man’s application for a non-record of conviction.
He noted that the man caused embarrassment to the victim when he beat her in the presence of her peers. In his sentencing remarks on March 27, Mr Qalinauci said the man must learn to control his anger.
“The victim is not your property,” he said at the Rakiraki Magistrate’s Court.
“Nowadays, corporal punishment is a practice that can lead to a criminal charge. I am sure that there are alternative ways that you can teach, mould a student to be productive in school, outside of school and become a law-abiding citizen.”
Aggrieved parties have 28 days to appeal.
