Alleged assault by former teacher had a profound effect, court hears

A woman who claims she was sexually abused by a teacher in the 1970s says she felt terrified during the ordeal.

The evidence was heard during the trial of a former history teacher charged with indecently assaulting six teenage girls at a south Belfast grammar school.

William Lloyd-Lavery of Richmond Avenue in Lisburn is accused of nine counts of indecent assault and two further counts of gross indecency between 1974 and 1979.

He denies the charges.

The 77-year-old was a history teacher at Richmond Lodge School at the time of the alleged offences.

During the evidence of one of the six complaints, their ABE (Achieving Best Evidence) interview was played to the jury. ABE interviews are PSNI recorded video interviews with a complainant.

The woman who is now in her 60s told a detective in March 2020 about several incidents that she said had happened at Richmond Lodge.

The school merged with Victoria College in 1987.

It was located on the grounds of what is now the junior campus of Victoria College on Belfast's Malone Road.

She said Lloyd-Lavery used to pass by her desk during history lessons and stop and fiddle with her hair.

He would also, she said, "run his fingers up and down" her back.

She went on to recount an incident where she says Lloyd-Lavery sexually assaulted her.

In the lead up to the alleged assault, she said she had done poorly in a history test and that he had asked her to come to see him.

She said he took her to a store room and he sat down close to her and their knees were touching. She added that she started to feel panicky.

In the interview, she said Lloyd-Lavery started to discuss the history test which had been on the plague. He asked her if she knew where in the body the symptoms of the plague started. She answered that she didn't know.

She says he responded that they started in the armpit and in the groin and that he then reached out and put his hand on her armpit and then onto her breast and then rubbed her groin.

He asked: "Do you mind me doing this?"

She said those words were "ingrained in her memory".

She said she didn't answer yes or no, saying that as a 13-year-old she had "never experienced male attention" like that and that she felt absolutely terrified.

She said that she didn't know how long it had gone on for, but that when the bell marking the end of lunch rang, she stood up and ran out of the room in tears.

She said the incident had had a "profound effect" on her and for years after she had nightmares about it and that she never told her parents about it.

During cross examination, senior counsel for the defence said that "Mr Laverty did not teach you in junior school."

To this, she replied that he did teach her.

The barrister went on to say that the incidents that she had recounted simply did not happen.

In response, the woman said that the incident in the storeroom was ingrained in her mind and that she had "a vivid memory of it since she was 13-years-old."

The case continues.