The deputy head teacher of a Hackney primary schoo

The deputy head teacher of a Hackney primary school was jailed
for nine months today (Fri) for ‘surreptitious and opportunistic’
sex assaults on nine pupils.

For some some seven years the Moslem schoolgirls – many of
them Turkish – put up with sexual harassment before they finally
complained to a language instructor.

Bearded and bespectacled Bhagabhai Mistry, 52, bowed his
head in shame after jurors at Snaresbrook Crown Court convicted
him of 11 specimen charges of indecently assaulting pupils
between the ages of eight and 11.

They acquitted him of one count of indecently assaulting a 10-
year-old during 1990.

Married man Mistry, of Limesdale Gardens, Edgware, had denied
all the offences – which took place between 1984 and July 31 last
year.

One victim, now a 16, gave evidence about indecent
assaults she had suffered at the hands of Mistry eight years ago.

Passing sentence, Judge Geoffrey Grigson asked: ‘What is the
purpose of a prison sentence? There are two.

First, any teacher
who abuses his position as you did is deterred from doing it again.

Second, it is to punish you.

‘Those children were entrusted to you and you abused that trust.

You deliberately chose children who were especially vulnerable and
those who had just arrived in this country.

‘You caused children real unhappiness and confusion in their
minds.

‘
As he was led from the dock Mrs Mistry had to be ushered out of
court as she screamed her husband’s innocence and pointed at the judge
and counsel.

After claims were first made about Mistry’s conduct in July last
year the Child Protection Team based at Stoke Newington police station
became involved and initially interviewed more that 30 pupils.

Judge Grigson thanked police officers, headed by Pol Sgt ‘Mo’
Mattu, and teaching staff involved in the prosecution.

Mrs Patricia May, prosecuting, had said that between September
1984 and June last year Mistry ‘persisted in a course of conduct that
is commonly called sexual harassment.

‘
Counsel described how victims were regularly indecently assaulted
in a ‘surreptitious and opportunistic manner.

‘
Mrs May continued: ‘The majority of these girls come from ethnic
minorities and in particular from the Turkish community.

‘
Counsel said that it may have been that Mistry thought the girls
were ‘less willing and less able’ to complain about his behaviour
because of their ‘background and language difficulties.

‘
During the trial the 16-year-old said that when she was as
young as eight, Mistry would run his hand up and down the back of
her thighs when she went to his desk to have her work marked.

Another youngster – who claimed she saw one of her fellow
witnesses being touched up by Mistry – said she was indecently
assaulted by him in the school corridor.

Other pupils complained of Mistry stroking their thighs while
another told the jury that he touched her breasts when she was walking
to the lavatory.

The court heard that Mistry would sit next to some of his pupils
during lunch-hour and run his hand along their thighs.

One girl said that Mistry touched her in the area of her breasts
while he marked her work.

The jury were told that he kept the same girl – described as
‘well developed’ for her age – behind after class, placed his hands
around her buttocks and said: ‘You’re a big girl aren’t you?’
After receiving a series of complaints from some of the
youngsters in June last year, a Turkish language instructor contacted
police.

Giving evidence in the trial Mistry maintained, as he did in
police interviews, that he never touched the girls improperly.

He said that he had been teaching at the school for a ‘number of
years’ and no such allegation had ever been made before.

Mr Richard Atchley, defending, had said of Mistry, a teacher of 30
years who speaks five different languages:
‘He is in a word finished.

Since the conclusion of the case he
has been dismissed.

He has all the inherent shame that convictions of
this sort bring.

‘
Mr Atchley told the judge that during the trial he would have
seen the support given to him by his wife and two sons and the ‘shame
they have suffered.

‘
Counsel added: ‘He is finished in both himself and the community.

This is a man who was crushed by the allegations and completely
crushed and devastated by the verdicts.

‘
ENDS