Teacher ducks charges in affair with student

TO PROTECT their son from the glaring eye of the public, the parents of a 16-year-old boy who allegedly had a sexual relationship with his teacher, have decided not to pursue criminal charges against the 31-year-old woman.

However, reliable sources told Newsday the parents were very upset over the incident  and are demanding that the Ministry of Education take drastic disciplinary measures against the teacher. The five-month love affair between the teacher and the pupil was exposed after an anonymous caller telephoned the E-999 Command Centre at Port-of-Spain and reported that the pupil was with the teacher at her Siparia home. The Palo Seco Government School teacher has since been suspended indefinitely pending an investigation by Ministry officials.
Police sources told Newsday the teacher denied an intimate relationship existed between them, but the teenager admitted to having sex with her. The teenager became involved with the teacher sometime after his mother went to Saudi Arabia to visit her husband, an engineer. She reportedly left her teenager and his brother in the care of their grandparents for six months. However, the elderly couple had no clue of the relationship, even though the teacher would visit the boy at his home after school hours.

Investigators of the Santa Flora Police Station recorded statements from the teacher, the teenager, and school officials. Police sources confirmed that no criminal charges would be laid against the teacher. Ministry officials yesterday went to the school where they interviewed the principal, teachers and pupils. When contacted, the school’s principal Fitzgerald Geoffery neither denied nor confirmed the incident, referring Newsday to the Ministry of Education for “all the information.” The Ministry’s Assistant Communication’s Officer, Hilton Braveboy, said the matter was under investigation and he would not comment further. Also declining to comment on the incident was president of the Trinidad and Tobago Unified Teacher’s Association, Trevor Oliver. Attempts by Newsday to contact the family of the teenaged boy proved unsuccessful.