Aberdare: Assault-accused teacher denies punishing boy

A teaching assistant accused of taking away a severely autistic boy’s ear defenders has denied she was punishing him for hitting her.

Mandy Hodges, 50, of Pentre, Rhondda Cynon Taf, told a court she believed the nine-year-old would “calm down” when his ear defenders were removed.

Ms Hodges and teacher Laura Murphy, 33, deny seven counts of assault and cruelty to a child under 16 at Park Lane Special School in Aberdare.

None of the children can be named.

Swansea Crown Court was shown CCTV footage of the playground from October 2020.

The prosecution said it showed Ms Hodges taking the boy’s ear defenders, knowing it would cause him distress because he has a condition known as Sensory Processing Disorder, an acute sensitivity to noise.

Ms Hodges said removing ear defenders would lead to the boy hearing what she described as “different sounds” and that he would “calm down”.

She rejected suggestions he would hear sounds louder, causing him to become distressed and upset.

Parents sitting in the public gallery became visibly distressed as she gave her evidence.

Handling plans and a statement for the child shown stated he could be”easily be distressed by the noise of other children around him”.

Ms Hodges said she had not had access to detailed information about the children in her class and had seen other staff removing children’s ear defenders.

“I’ve done what I had seen others doing,” she said.

Ms Hodges said the boy, who she said was taller than her, grabbed her, giving her a “dead arm”.

She told the court she tried to de-escalate the situation by massaging his hand, which had worked in the past but not on this occasion, but he hit her again.

She said she returned the ear defenders after about a minute.

“He was fine, happy,” she told the court.

The trial continues.