Samantha Henry, the Anna Regina Multilateral Secondary School teacher who had accused a male colleague of physically assaulting her earlier this month, said she is awaiting the inquiry results from the Ministry of Education, which had launched an investigation into the assault. The male teacher has since denied the allegation.
Henry, head of the school’s Science Department said she had sustained injuries to her hands while attempting to leave a staff meeting where the male teacher had begun to assault her.
“I am giving the system a chance to work and see what would become of my situation,” she said, noting that photos of her injuries were submitted to the Education Ministry after the investigation was launched. She said the Regional Education Officer (REdO) of Region 2 had told her that the ministry had asked to review the case.
Henry indicated further that the REdO had promised her that the ministry would complete the investigation by the start of the new school term in January, 2014.
She had said that she was attempting to leave the staff meeting when the male teacher, Hubert Gaime, blocked her path and squeezed her hand in the door.
However, Gaime said the allegations were false and that his name was being stained as he was about to end his 35-year-long career.
Henry also said that she had returned to the school to teach prior to the end of the term and was happy that police visited the school every other day to ensure that she was safe. “I felt assured of my safety in the building because of their presence…I knew that I was being protected,” she said.
“I tried to get out and my hand was on the door when he leaned in and pressed his weight against the door and my hand got squeezed,” Henry had told Stabroek News. She said she had become so scared that she had run out of the building, afraid for her life.
But Gaime maintained that the allegations being made against him by Henry were false. “She was forcing her way through the door. I didn’t touch her and I didn’t tell her anything. The other teachers in the meeting could tell you that,” he had said, while emphasising that the embarrassment he is suffering is great. He also said that he has spent 35 years as a teacher and now at the end of his career his name is being tarnished. When Stabroek News contacted the school, the head teacher was absent.
Public Relations Officer for the Ministry Suelle Williams had said that the ministry did not treat lightly with assault cases.
