Teacher to be tried for sex attacks on pupils

The High Court has decided that the trial of a retired school teacher, accused of indecently assaulting a number of his former pupils, can go ahead.

The teacher, aged in his 70s and who cannot be named for legal reasons, is facing more than 60 charges of indecently assaulting 11 female students at the rural primary school he taught at between 1965 and 1985. Four of the complainants are sisters.

The teacher denies all the charges against him. He was arrested and charged in late 2011 and sent forward for trial to the Circuit Criminal Court in 2012.