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Allegations
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A former A Hamilton District
Court jury found John Timothy Edgar not guilty of seven counts of indecent
assault and one of committing an indecent act while a teacher at Hukanui
Primary School. The jury heard more
than five days of testimony from alleged victims, their parents, the accused
and his former colleagues. Dr Edgar, 37, told
National Radio today that his teaching career had been over from the time the
allegations were made, and his photo and "an article which seemed to
suggest I was guilty" appeared in the local newspaper. "There will
probably always be the finger of suspicion. I certainly couldn't teach and
feel very comfortable," he said. He warned men against
entering the teaching profession, as most allegations of sexual misconduct
"seem to focus on men". Dr Edgar said one
solution could be that men team-teach, preventing them being left alone in
the classroom, providing a legal safeguard. "Part of the
reason I was able to destroy the allegations was that I had had a male
student teacher in the room at the time and he was able to exonerate
me," Dr Edgar said. Allegations he had
abused students were made up by one group of children at the school, he said.
"They were just
the result of a group of children who knew each other . . . who made up stupid stories . . . it just developed some
sort of a nightmarish life of itself," he said. "They were just
absolutely weird. I was meant to have indecently assaulted two of them on the
same day, on the day the Education Review Office began its inspection of He had had enormous
support from school and "the vast majority of parents", friends and
family. -------------------- CAPTION: COURT SUCCESS
- Cleared teacher John Timothy Edgar gives a triumphant salute as he leaves
Hamilton District Court last night after being found not guilty of seven
counts of indecent assault and one of committing an indecent act. Picture: |
