The trial of a former history teacher charged with indecently assaulting six teenage girls at a Belfast grammar school in the 1970s has begun at Belfast Crown Court.
William Lloyd-Lavery of Richmond Avenue in Lisburn is accused of nine counts of indecent assault and two further counts of gross indecency between 1974 and 1979.
The 77-year-old was a history teacher at Richmond Lodge School at the time of the alleged offending.
He denies the charges.
The school merged with Victoria College in 1987.
Richmond Lodge School was on the grounds of what is now the junior campus of Victoria College on Belfast’s Malone Road.
On Tuesday morning, a prosecution barrister set out the case to be heard by the jury made up of six men and six women.
The court heard one of the women reported an historic incident to police in December 2019.
She later posted on social media to ask others if something similar had happened to them, and other women came forward.
Brief details of the alleged victims were told to the jury.
The court heard one woman claim that when she was about 13 years old, Lloyd-Lavery had asked her to help him look for a history book.
She said she had been standing on a chair and the accused was underneath her looking at a lower shelf. She said he was “clearly looking up my skirt”.
The woman claimed that Lloyd-Lavery then took her to another room to look for the book and lifted her up to look for it.
As she was put down again, she said her skirt came up and Lloyd-Lavery assaulted her.
Another woman alleged that when she was also 13, Lloyd-Lavery asked both her and a friend to help move books.
While she was up a ladder, she said the accused touched her inappropriately.
Another woman told police that Lloyd-Lavery was her form teacher when she was 12 and he gave her a lift home from a school fair.
When she got into the car’s back seat, the court heard there were pornographic magazines on the seat.
Two of the alleged victims are expected to give their evidence from overseas.
Lloyd-Lavery has denied the charges and remains on bail.
The trial is expected to last until the end of January.
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