A teacher’s conviction for raping and sexually assaulting a family member affects his fitness to teach, a panel has heard.
The teacher was convicted and sentenced a number of years ago on three counts of rape and four counts of sexual assault before a jury at the Central Criminal Court.
The teacher subsequently received an 8½-year jail sentence in the Central Criminal Court.
Tuesday’s inquiry heard the offences occurred primarily in the family home, over 20 years ago when both the teacher and his victim were children. The offences occurred over a number of years.
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At the time of the offences, the teacher was in his mid-to-late teenage years while the family member was in their preteen and early teenage years.
Chair Fergal McCarthy noted that the teacher continues to maintain his innocence.
In his submission the teacher said he denied the criminal charges against him “100 per cent”, that they were “false and fabricated” and that he “did not assault anybody”.
The inquiry heard that the teacher, when interviewed by gardaí, claimed that the allegations against him were motivated by malice in that he had informed other family members of the sexual orientation of his victim.
The teacher appealed the severity of the sentence to the Court of Appeal.
Eoghan O’Sullivan, barrister for the director of the Teaching Council, outlined the detail of the offences by the teacher to the inquiry.
The sexual misconduct consisted of incidents of sexual touching, oral rape and an anal rape.
The teacher, who is serving a prison sentence, attended the hearing remotely and represented himself.
He was previously represented by the Teachers’ Union of Ireland (TUI), who, subsequent to his conviction and sentencing, informed the Teaching Council that they were no longer representing him.
The inquiry also heard that while the teacher was appealing his conviction and sentence he asked the Teaching Council via handwritten letters to pause its investigation regarding him.
In his submission Mr O’Sullivan said that “on any analysis” the convictions against the teacher affects his fitness to teach.
He said that the teaching profession requires appropriate Garda vetting to safeguard against persons who may cause harm to a child and that these are not people who should be entrusted with access to children.
Mr O’Sullivan submitted that the offence of rape, because of its nature, renders a person who has committed such an offence unfit to be a member of the teaching profession and that the same applied to the offence of sexual assault.
He added that the teacher abused the familial relationship he had with his victim and that his behaviour involved an abuse of power.
Following the decision of the panel at a preliminary hearing, the committee ordered extensive reporting restrictions.
These restrictions included that all parties and geographical locations should be anonymised. It was also directed that the teacher’s relationship with his victim, when the offending occurred and the dates of trial, sentence hearing and appeal be anonymised.
The panel will reconvene at a future date to decide on sanction.
