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| Britain |
| UK Mosque teacher found guilty of assault after beating pupil |
| 2004-09-20 |
| A morality teacher at a mosque who hit one of his young pupils with a metre-long stick was convicted of common assault yesterday. Mohammed Abdullah, 44, of Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, hit the 11-year-old boy with a stick after he found that the pupil had drawn a rude picture during a class in April. The child, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, suffered bruising and swelling around his neck. Abdullah, who works as a cleaner and was teaching on a voluntary basis, was released on bail by Peterborough magistrates and is due to be sentenced on October 12. The child told Peterborough magistrates court he thought he would be killed in the attack. "I thought he [Abdullah] was going to kill me when he hit me that hard. I literally couldn't breathe. He said: 'Don't tell your parents. If you do, we'll hit you'." The boy said that Abdullah had used a stick which was about one metre (3ft) long and 5cm in diameter. He said the top had been wrapped in sticky tape to create a handle. "He hit me on one of my arms, then he poked me in the chest with the stick and pushed me down," the boy said. "It was very hard - it winded me. He told me: 'I hit you for your own benefit. Take it like a man.' "I fell backwards and on to the ground. He pulled me back up to my knees with my ears. He held me with one ear and hit the stick on my neck." Abdullah, who denied common assault, said he had grabbed the boy around the shoulders to restrain him as he attempted to leave the class 10 minutes early. He told the court he had been a voluntary teacher in the class for about two years. Although he had no formal qualifications, he had been trained by another teacher and supervised by the headteacher. He said he had taught morals to children aged between eight and 12. He taught them how to be clean, how to worship Allah, and how to behave with their parents. Towards the end of the lesson, he noticed some of the boys giggling. He discovered the child had drawn a picture showing a man's penis. The boy claimed it was a caveman with a club. "I got him by the hand," he told the court. "My fingers were on his shoulders. If he was really very bad, I would take him to the headteacher and the parents would be called. I am not a violent man. I have no record of violence." But magistrate Peter Marshal said the bench had found the boy to be a credible witness and his injuries were consistent with the assault. The boy's father said later that there should be a system of regulating teachers in mosques and other religious schools. |
| Posted by:TS(vice girl) |