Teacher to Price: ‘You’re a sorry excuse for a mother’
By Anna-Lisa Paul Saturday, January 22 2011
The trial involving local comedienne, Rachel Price, who is alleged to have assaulted a teacher in November last at Bishop Anstey High School got underway yesterday as two witnesses testified.
When the matter was called just after 1.30 pm yesterday before Senior Magistrate Lucina Cardenas-Ragoonanan in the Port-of-Spain Fourth Magistrate’s Court, teacher Michelle Mc Leod-Campbell, and school secretary, Helen James, appeared on behalf of the prosecution.
Price, 36, has pleaded not guilty to charges of assault and using obscene language which arose from an alleged incident at the school on November 16 last..
Represented by attorneys Om Lalla and Penny Beckles, Price who was clad in a light-grey skirt suit and sky-high heels listened quietly to the proceedings from inside the prisoners’ dock where she was allowed to take a drink of water, after the magistrate acceded to the request by the attorneys.
Offering a smile to her husband Christian Douglas, and friend Peter Elias, who were seated in court, Price consulted with Beckles throughout the testimony by the complainant, Mc Leod- Campbell.
The court heard that on the day in question, Mc Leod-Campbell was allegedly confronted by Price at the school staff room after Price’s daughter had been issued a pink slip by the teacher for “rude behaviour.”
Mc Leod-Campbell testified that Price ripped the slip to pieces, and attempted to stuff it down her clothing while hurling insults and obscenities at her.
In addition, the teacher claimed that Price had threatened to do her bodily harm, and had defiled the school by making certain statements.
Under oath, Mc Leod-Campbell admitted that Price had informed her that the daughter had been experiencing some “stress” in her personal life, and that she (Mc Leod-Campbell) had in turn uttered the statement to Price, “That is the reason why your daughter is the way she is, because you are a sorry excuse for a mother.”
Revealing that Price’s husband had been the one to restrain Price during the alleged physical confrontation, Mc Leod-Campbell said Price had also threatened to report her to the Ministry of Education.
Mc Leod-Campbell also said she had sought counselling since the incident had left her very traumatised.
Visibly upset while in the witness box, Mc Leod-Campbell sighed several times during the cross examination by Penny Beckles in which she denied having met Price before the date of the incident.
Negating claims by Beckles that she was exaggerating, Mc Leod-Campbell stuck to her testimony while the second witness, Helen James, echoed the sequence of facts in her testimony that she had witnessed Price physically attacking Mc Leod-Campbell.
Beckles has reserved cross examination of James until the next hearing on January 28, while two other prosecution witnesses will be called.
