Court strikes off teacher who sent inappropriate Snapchat messages to girls

A teacher who sent inappropriate messages to teenage girls who were his former pupils has been struck off by the High Court.

The messages, some of a sexual nature, sent to the 13- and 14-year-old girls by the male teacher via the Snapchat messaging app included describing one as “a little ride”.

The teacher, who is in his early 20s, also sent a photo of himself where part of his bare chest could be seen and which was superimposed with red lips.

One of the main features of the Snapchat photo messaging app, popular with teenagers and young adults, is that pictures and messages usually disappear after a short period of time.

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High Court president Mr Justice David Barniville pointed to the serious nature of the allegations and findings against the teacher and the unanswerable evidence. He saw no good reason not to confirm the decision of the Teaching Council to remove the teacher’s name from the register.

The judge said he had no hesitation in confirming the decision of the Teaching Council, which also asked that the teacher not be allowed to reapply for entry to the register for the next 15 years.

The name of the teacher, the students, the school and its general geographical location cannot be identified by direction of the High Court.

An inquiry by the Teaching Council last July found the teacher guilty of seven allegations of professional misconduct, as well as breaches of the Code of Professional Conduct for Teachers. It ruled that the teacher had engaged in inappropriate contact on Snapchat with six former students at the secondary school where he taught, as well as with another girl from the same area.

Counsel for the Teaching Council, Eoghan O’Sullivan, told the High Court that of the six girls the teacher had taught, three accepted his friend requests and another girl from a different school also did. The girls were mainly first-year students.

The messages were sent on unknown dates between September 2019 and July 2020 when the girls were aged between 13 and 14.

Counsel said the inquiry heard evidence over two days that the teacher had worked as a student teacher and subsequently as a substitute teacher at the school between September and December 2019. The teacher was suspended after a parent’s complaint.

The council’s disciplinary committee noted the professional misconduct by the teacher was “towards the upper end of the spectrum” and some of the messages were of a sexual nature, Mr O’Sullivan said.

Counsel said the disciplinary panel said there was a lack of meaningful insight by the teacher but he had at one stage apologised. The panel was far from convinced, he added.

Counsel said it was a very serious sanction being requested but he asked the court to consider the scale of wrongdoing and the breach of trust in relation to extremely young girls. Counsel said the sanction was proportionate.