Former NT teacher says there's 'no way in the world' he kissed students
Updated
A former primary school teacher accused of indecent dealings with children says there was "no way in the world" he kissed his students, a Darwin court has heard.
The man, who pleaded not guilty to eight counts of indecent dealings with four of his students and one count of aggravated assault, is on trial in the Supreme Court.
In a second record of interview with police, the 51-year-old man was asked about an allegation from a second student that he lifted her shirt and kissed her on the cheeks.
The man said there was "no way in the world" he would have acted that way and denied anything happened between him and his students, saying the girls were lying.
"I know for a fact that [she] is lying, I know that there's no way in the world that I ever attempted anything close to kiss her," he said.
"And I pity the person who ever tried to kiss [her] because she'd break their nose because that's what she's like."
He also asked the interviewing police officer, Detective Sergeant Kirsten Engels, if they thought it was "weird" that the girl was the first alleged victim's only friend and had made a formal complaint weeks earlier, saying the second girl knew about her friend's allegations.
Detective Sergeant Engels replied: "Not necessarily".
The man said he was a single parent with a mortgage and that he would not "waste" his career committing this behaviour.
"So you think after 25 years I'd waste everything I've ever done on these two [children]," he said.
"I'm a single parent with a mortgage, I have the job of my dreams that I love and it's gone, because of this I lost it.
"This is costing me, far out."
"You can be sure I didn't go into this lightly, I'm going on the information I have," Detective Sergeant Engels replied.
The man said he did not believe he favoured female students and that he was a sought-after teacher.
"I believe... the reason why I'm a good teacher is because of my relationships," he said.
The 51-year-old said he was able to build good trust relationships with his students and had received similar feedback from his assistant principals.
The man also said he had coached girls' teams for 19 years and had never had any question raised about his actions before.
The trial continues.
Topics: law-crime-and-justice, courts-and-trials, crime, police, sexual-offences, nt, darwin-0800
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