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Violin teacher goes on trial of sexually assaulting four female young students

Brian Bergin has gone on trial at Derry Crown Court accused of sexually assaulting young pupils
Brian Bergin has gone on trial at Derry Crown Court accused of sexually assaulting young pupils Brian Bergin has gone on trial at Derry Crown Court accused of sexually assaulting young pupils

A VIOLIN teacher has gone on trial at Derry Crown Court accused of sexually assaulting four female young students.

Brian Bergin, from Brookhill in the Culmore Road area, denies committing a total of eight offences on dates between August 2011 and May 2014.

A barrister for the Public Prosecution Service told the jury that the girls were all primary school pupils aged between nine and 11 years of age at the time of the alleged abuse.

The barrister said seven of the charges involving three of the girls were specimen charges and the eighth charge involving the fourth complainant was a specific charge.

He said each of the complainants, who have made recorded statements of their allegations, would be giving their evidence via a live video link.

The prosecutor said when the allegations were made against the defendant in May 2014 he was employed as a violin teacher at a number of schools by the Western Education and Library Board.

He tutored his pupils in their schools and the four children in this case attended two local primary schools where he visited each once a week.

One of the girls first made her allegations to her school principal who then contacted the girl's mother. The girl then recorded an interview with the PSNI uring which she outlined her allegations. She said the defendant would put her on his knee, rub her sides, put his arm around her neck and got her to do the splits.

The second complainant alleged the defendant had rubbed her shoulders and sides regularly and also got her to do the splits.

The third complainant told the police that the defendant hugged her, rubbed her back, asked her to spread her legs wide apart and on one occasion said to her "don't leave me".

The fourth complainant told the police that the defendant felt her sides and also made her do the splits.

The prosecutor said the defendant, who was suspended after the allegations were made, was aware of the code of conduct for music teachers which advised against unnecessary touching unless it was appropriate in terms of the child's posture while playing a violin.

On February 26, 2015, the defendant attended on a voluntary basis Magherafelt PSNI station and he denied all of the allegations.

The prosecution barrister told the jury that the defendant did not give any explanation to the police for his alleged behaviour.

"His motivation was the sexual touching of each of these children in the manner which he did, which was sexual in nature and that he did it intentionally and not accidentally", the barrister told the jurors.