The mother of a teenager who attended Lagan College has revealed she removed her daughter from the school after its health and welfare officer broke her child’s trust.
Neil Beckett - who is currently suspended from his role at the south Belfast school - is standing trial on 29 sexual offences spanning over a ten-year period which he denies.
11 complainants - nine of whom attended Lagan College - have alleged they were abused by Beckett, who is aged 43 and from Kilmore Village in Downpatrick.
The trial is now in its third week and a former pupil and her mother both gave evidence.
The teenager claimed that whilst in school she was hugged by Beckett and that during this hug he touched her stomach then “his hand went down to my hips and bum”.
She also claimed that Beckett bought her chocolate, told her she was pretty and that on one occasion after she cut her hair “he touched my hair and told me ‘you’ve really pretty eyes’ and ‘you’re a really pretty girl’”.
The teenager also alleged that during one incident in his office, Beckett “put his hands on my thighs and make me look into his eyes”.
The complainant said she found his behaviour “really weird”, that she was “creeped out” by it and that it made her feel “really uncomfortable”.
Appearing via a videolink, the complainant was cross-examined by defence barrister Laura Ievers KC, who suggested that she was lying.
Ms Ievers put it to the girl that she came forward with a false allegation after reading an article about Beckett in the Belfast Telegraph.
The defence barrister also suggested to the teenager that “because there was gossip in school” about Beckett, she “jumped on the bandwagon”.
These suggestion were denied by the former pupil who said “that’s not true”.
Her mother was also called to give evidence and she told the court her daughter felt like she wouldn’t be believed and didn’t want to go back to school.
She said as a result “I took my daughter out of school. She didn’t want to live. She didn’t want to be there - and that was because of him (Beckett) breaking her trust”.
At hearing.