Yahoo Finance Principal accused of assaulting 4 students says he employed board training when restraining child
It was summer 2017, and Robin McGrath was meeting his right-hand woman for the first time.
McGrath said on the stand in a courtroom in St. John's Tuesday that he and the school's new vice-principal were excited to step into the helm together, being, as he put it, "the first people to go in, create the culture and environment."
He spoke fondly of the promise he felt that day, of his plans for his newly-minted principalship at the Conception Bay South school.
He couldn't have known, then, the trouble that lay ahead.
Members of the school's staff, just months later, would accuse their principal of assaulting four students, all with disabilities. He had screamed, grabbed, pinched, threatened, and squeezed, according to their allegations. In all, he faces five charges.
McGrath flatly denied all of this from the witness box.
The principal painted himself, instead, as a tireless worker who refused to leave his office until well after his students were dismissed. Usually, he said, he'd return home with his lunch still in its bag, uneaten.
"I lead by example," he told the court. "I always say, you can't expect out of other people what you won't do yourself."
As his defence attorneys laid out the allegations against him, he shot them down one by one, at times calm and at other times nearly ranting, his voice indignant.
He described staff members who gradually turned against him as the school year progressed. One, he said, had been bad-mouthing him to various staff members after he told her she likely wouldn't walk into a full-time job right away. His vice-principal, for her part, grew to disagree with him at every turn.
A third, he said, outspokenly disapproved of his new relationship with a married colleague, to the point where she outright ignored him and later said she could not work with McGrath any longer.
The defence has narrowed their sights on the breakdown of those relationships during their questioning this week, emphasizing the apparent workplace dysfunction that's been a running theme throughout the trial.
They also gave McGrath the opportunity to describe his version of the alleged assaults.
Bear hug was board-approved, McGrath says
Previous testimony from witnesses called by the prosecution has said McGrath wrapped a student in a bear hug, squeezing him until the child cried.
McGrath detailed what he says happened that day: a violent child with a disability was kicking and punching both him and another staff member. To de-escalate that, he used what he called a "CPI hold," grabbing the child's wrists from behind and crossing them across the child's chest, leaning him backward until he calmed down.
He learned that, he said, in classes provided by the school board. "I did what I was trained to do," he told the court.
McGrath said he did often make physical contact with children, but never inappropriately.
"Sure," he said. "I'd hold their hands, especially younger kids." He compared his demeanour to the way he'd treat his own two children.
Sometimes, if a student wasn't paying attention, he would move his or her chin lightly with his fingers, turning the head toward him. He'd do the same with their chairs when overwhelmed teachers brought disruptive kids to his office for discipline.
Another staff member at the school, who'd known McGrath for years and had followed him from their previous school in Holyrood, echoed testimony from Monday's witnesses: McGrath spoke firmly to the children, but she never saw him behave in a way that concerned her.
"He spoke to them in a stern voice — to me, much like a father would speak to a child," the witness said.
She, like multiple other witnesses called this week, said none of the children he'd allegedly assaulted seemed afraid of him.
One witness also reported hearing vague threats from one of McGrath's accusers, who would often complain about her work schedule in her presence.
"She said, 'he thinks he's intimidating, but he's not intimidating me. He doesn't know who he's dealing with,'" the witness recounted hearing.
Testimony ended Tuesday with the defence still in the process of questioning McGrath. Prosecution has not yet had an opportunity for cross-examination.
The trial continues Wednesday.
