The jury said Vasilious Kafataris “joked” about putting a schoolgirl in her place

This lasted two to three seconds before she “managed to push him off”.

“I was panicking and kind of passed out in the moment,” she said.

The prosecutor asked, “Did you consent to Mr. Kafataris pinning you against the wall?”

“No,” the woman replied.

She claimed a second incident happened while she was in Kafataris’ classroom with her best friend, when the teacher approached her and “got really close” to her before her friend poked him in the back with a pen.

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“We had a conversation, as I mentioned, that was ‘creepy,'” the complainant said. “She [my friend] said ‘yeah, that’s why I poke him with the pen’.”

On cross-examination, the woman said she liked Kafataris and would contact him regularly, including texting him and asking when he had free time at school, but agreed with the suggestion that he had “scared” her.

Defense attorney Rory McCrudden asked: “Don’t you ever tell anyone about your fear?”

“No,” said the woman.

McCrudden asked, “Because you lie?”

“I disagree,” she said.

The complainant agreed that help from other teachers was available and that the headmaster would not have tolerated such behaviour.

McCrudden suggested, “The reason you’re not doing anything is because nothing happened.”

“I disagree,” the woman replied.

She was led to messages asking Kafataris, “Oi, when do you have classes off?” and saying, “ha ha fucking loser”.

“Why did you talk like that to a man you were afraid of?” asked McCrudden.

“Because we were almost on a friendship level, you can still be afraid of someone you’re friends with,” the woman replied.

The trial will continue before Judge Craig Everson.

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