Mother of alleged assault victim says school head 'impassive'

The mother of a woman who claims she was sexually assaulted by her teacher in the 1970s has said the school's headmistress was "very keen nothing should be done" after she reported the alleged incident.

The evidence from the woman, who is in her 90s, was heard during the trial of a former teacher charged with indecently assaulting six teenage girls at Richmond Lodge School in south Belfast.

William Lloyd-Lavery, 77, 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.

Warning: People might find details in this report distressing

The jury was played an interview the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) conducted with the mother of one of the six complainants.

During the video interview, the woman, who is in her 90s, said she had gone to collect her daughter from school on a "lovely sunny day".

She described how her daughter, who was around 13 at the time, came out of school "very fast" and "got into the car in a terrible state and started to cry".

She said her daughter then told her how she had been sexually assaulted by the former teacher, in a French stationery cupboard, after he told her he needed help looking for a history book.

During the interview the complainant's mother said that Lloyd-Lavery wasn't her daughter's teacher at the time.

She said when she and her husband, who is now deceased, went to the headmistress the next day to tell her about the alleged incident "she had a very impassive face".

The complainant's mother was then asked about the meeting with the school's headmistress during cross-examination.

When asked by a defence barrister about how the meeting went, the woman said: "I found she was very impassive and didn't react the way I would have reacted as a headmistress, or any other way.

"I was really quite amazed about it, she took it terribly calmly."

The woman told the court her husband was "absolutely raging" and said he wanted it dealt with.

She said the headmistress told them the defendant "would be moving on soon" and that he was "ambitious".

The woman added the headmistress "was very keen nothing should be done".

The defence barrister also asked her about Lloyd-Lavery being appointed her daughter's history teacher, the following year.

The woman said she and her husband had wanted her daughter to move schools, but at the time she didn't want to go as she had a group of close friends.

The complainant's mother said her daughter used to go to the back of the class "to get the desks and put them around her to protect her, but he never touched her again".

She added that the defendant left the school quite soon after the term started.

The trial continues.