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AN appeal by a former school teacher convicted of sexually assaulting a pupil opened yesterday at Omagh County Court.
David Baxter (66), from Killadeas Road, Lisnarick, is appealing against both the conviction and sentence he received in March after he was found guilty of sexually assaulting a child on a date between February 1 and April 30, 2018.
The alleged offences occurred during his time as a teacher in Erne Integrated College.
Baxter also served as musical director of the Omagh Music Society.
Yesterday’s hearing opened with the evidence of the alleged victim, who was in her first year of secondary school.
She told the court that, starting around Halloween, Baxter ‘favouritised’ her over other students. However, before Easter, she said he took her into a store room and ‘forced her’ to sit on his knee, putting his hand on her thigh as he showed her a
piano.
The victim said that she didn’t tell her mum and step-dad until ‘the summertime’, who then reported it to the school. She said that she felt ‘manipulated’ by Baxter who had been kind to her when she struggled to make friends.
The alleged victim said Baxter also invited her to a church service ‘around Christmas’, where he gave her a ‘small tree’ and stressball as ‘presents’.
Baxter’s counsel Grainne McAnaney, noted however that the first interview with the school’s child protection officer took place on April 18, just weeks after the alleged incident, not after the summer as told by the victim.
She also put forward Baxter’s recollection that the victim attended a choir service on Palm Sunday at a different church. When Ms McAnaney asked if the victim had mixed up the events, she replied, “Maybe I did (mix up the events).”
However, the girl later stated that the Christmas event ‘was to the best of her recollection’.
The appeal hearing will continue tomorrow (Friday).
