iDNES.cz – The death of a school teacher at the hands of one of his students in a Prague college in March has returned to the headlines as the case goes to trial.
After maintaining silence during the first part of the trial, the student accused of murder, Jaroslav Rehak, spoke about how the teacher had consistently bullied and mocked him for having a stutter and claims that he never intended to kill the teacher, but did so in self-defence after an altercation.
Rehak argued to the court that he had only intended to scare the teacher when he brought a machete to the school. However, in his version of events, when the teacher saw the machete, he approached Rehak and tried to take it away from him, pushing him to the ground. Rehak then claims the teacher began to strike him, at which point he began using the machete to slash at the teacher.
The defendant had to stop his testimony as he began to become too overwhelmed emotionally, with the judge then reading the rest of his earlier statements.
The family of the teacher have demanded that as well as facing a sentence, Rehak must pay out a financial compensation of 7.3 million crowns (300,000 euros).
The case has also led to attention being placed on the fact that the school had previously been warned about the conduct of the teacher, who Rehak alleged had mocked him for his special educational needs. However, according to a report by the Czech School Inspectorate, “the school did not pay enough attention to the special education needs of the pupil”.
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