A lecturer at the University of Galway has launched High Court proceedings over what he claims is his wrongful suspension following a “false accusation” that he engaged in sexual activity with a student in his office.
Nigel Roberts, a lecturer at the university’s school of podiatric medicine, says he was wrongfully suspended from his position in early February 2022, after a colleague with an office adjoining his wrongly claimed to have “heard noises of an intimate nature, suggestive of some form of sexual activity” from his office.
He denies ever having sexual relations with the female student and says the ongoing investigation into the allegation is flawed and should be halted.
The complaint, he alleges, was made by a colleague who bears “considerable ill will” and has made other complaints against him.
“No sexual activity whatsoever occurred” in his office on the date in question, he said, adding that the accusation is “an egregious libel”.
Mr Roberts says the student, who he said he does not know very well, has confirmed this to investigators appointed by the university.
However, he remains suspended from the university where he has worked since 2009 and has been out of work for more than a year, resulting in extremely significant damage to his reputation, career and health.
Mr Roberts, represented by Oisín Quinn SC and Ray Ryan BL, has brought High Court proceedings against the university seeking various orders, including one halting the ongoing investigation into the allegation against him and another lifting his suspension from work.
The matter was mentioned to Mr Justice Brian O’Moore on Tuesday, while only the plaintiff was represented and notified of the case.
The judge permitted the lecturer to give the university short notice of the proceedings, which are due to return to court next week.
In a sworn statement to the court, Mr Roberts, a 59-year-old married father-of-two, from Roscahill, Co Galway, said a student attended his office on January 20th, 2022.
He said she was extremely upset and visited his office, like many other students have done, for personal guidance and counselling related to her mother’s serious medical condition.
He said that because the student was extremely distressed, he placed a laminated sign on the door of his office indicating that he was “in a private meeting” and was “not to be disturbed”.
He said the colleague who allegedly made the complaint also furnished him with audio recordings of the events of the day in question.
Those recordings, Mr Roberts says, do not in any way indicate any sexual activity, and no clear or discernible sound of any kind can be made out on them.
He said a barrister has been appointed to investigate the allegation after an initial internal probe was stood down due to being found to have departed from the course of natural justice.
He claims the latest investigation is also flawed on grounds including that the university has never properly articulated exactly the allegation against him.
The investigation, he alleges, cannot proceed under the college’s staff code of conduct. It is also wrong for the university to maintain his suspension when no actual complainant exists, he says.
The college has possession of documents from the student, who made it clear that no sexual activity occurred, he claims. No reasonable employer would maintain an investigation in such circumstances, he claims.
He further alleges that the terms of reference of the ongoing investigation are not clear and no clarity has been provided to him about how the proposed process will proceed.
He added that, under the terms of his suspension, he is not allowed to attend the university.
His case, he adds, has been the subject of an article that appeared in the national media.