Mother defends student who broke teacher’s nose and teeth in attack

THE mother of a schoolchild who broke his teacher’s nose and teeth yesterday came out fighting for her son’s future.

Despite 16-year-old Steven Jacob’s expected expulsion from school for beating up his English teacher, his mother Bernadette defended him.

“He’s not a thug at all, he’s actually a very quiet boy.”

But his actions were inexcusable, she admitted. The young Dublin mother also apologised to teacher Chris Gavin for her child’s actions.

“He’s never done anything like this before,” she said, admitting it was a shock.

Mr Gavin was badly injured by the Leaving Certificate student at Deansrath Community College in Clondalkin, west Dublin over a week ago.

A row erupted after the youngster refused to stop using his mobile phone during class time.

Mr Gavin, 33, was left with a broken nose, several broken teeth, an injured eye and needed hospital treatment. He is still on sick leave and gardaí are aware of the incident.

Principal Maria Shannon suspended the pupil.

Ms Jacob is due to meet management at Deansrath Community College next Wednesday. “He told me that him and the teacher, it was both their fault. I told him he should not have hit the teacher the way he did. I’m not condoning what he done, it was wrong that he hit the teacher in such a hurtful way.

“Steven did assault the teacher and hurt him but he wasn’t disruptive in class.”

She said that aggressive language on her son’s personal website was placed there by his friends, not him.

The student is the youngest of six siblings. His father was very upset after the incident, RTÉ was told yesterday.

Bernadette Jacob said she thought her son was facing expulsion. “He does need to sit his Leaving Cert, we will need to get him into another school.”

The suspended pupil has applied to do a football course in college after school.

“He’s very quiet, he goes to his football, he goes to the pictures with his friends and he’s home by 11 watching films. It’s not as if he’s a bad kid hanging around the streets,” she said.

Teacher representatives have called in recent days for training where conflict arises in classrooms.

The Teachers’ Union of Ireland said in a recent survey, one-in-five teachers experienced harassment in just one week.