‘He Tried To Humiliate Me’: MCAST Student Tells Police Lecturer Assaulted Him First
An MCAST student who was filmed assaulting his lecturer in class has given the police his version of events and requested they take criminal action against him.
In a legal complaint, the 20-year-old sports student said he has been diagnosed with ADD and ADHD and had an LSE assigned to him at secondary school.
He said he found it hard to adapt to MCAST’s environment, especially the module taught by that particular lecturer.
“Instead of trying to identify the student’s shortcomings and seeking to address them, he repeatedly tried to humiliate him in front of his classmates,” the legal complaint says.
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“This was a gross lack of professionalism. Rather than finding the support of a mature adult educator who should have been there to educate him and develop his skills, he became a cast-out, demoralised and degraded through actions comparable to bullying. This also caused him emotional and mental distress.”
The incident on 20th March, which was partially filmed by another student, is subject to a police investigation.
However, the student said that this was “merely the culmination of a toxic atmosphere that had been brewing for weeks”.
He said that the lecturer got angry after he confronted him about an overdue exam date and, as the footage shows, started shouting at him, asking if he’s “ashamed of God”, and demanding he leave the classroom. He also approached the student and slammed on his desk.
Here, the mobile shifted for a few seconds, and the student said his classmate didn’t catch the lecturer messing up his papers, pushing the desk towards him and assaulting him.
When the phone is re-angled, the lecturer can be seen advancing towards the student, who raises his hands to fend him off, punches him in the face and curses at him.
“While it is true that this could have been resolved more peacefully, it would be insidious to try and give the impression that it is solely the student’s fault,” the legal complaint says.
“Looking at it objectively, not only did the educator get people hotheaded unnecessarily but he escalated things by approaching the student, messing up his papers and assaulting him. This is criminal behaviour that isn’t fitting of an educator at a serious institute like MCAST. One would expect much better behaviour form an educator who is supposed to be mature and serve as an example to his students.”
The legal complaint was filed by lawyers Arthur Azzopardi, Jacob Magri, and Wilfrid Buttigieg.
What do you make of the student’s version of events?
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