Witness tells court alleged victim was 'completely infatuated' with Special Needs School principal accused of rape

A witness told the trial of the principal of a Special Needs School accused of rape and sexual assault charges that the alleged victim was 'completely infatuated' with the accused. 

Michael Dobbins (54) of Greenhaw Road in Derry is charged with six counts of rape, three counts of sexual assault and one count of sexual activity with a female who by reason of a mental disorder could not consent.

All of the offences were said to have occurred on dates between January 1 2013 and February 23 2015.

The trial heard on Tuesday (October 4) from what the prosecution described as 'a tranche of witnesses' who were involved in various projects in Ardnashee School.

One woman who worked as a classroom assistant and also in the office told the court that the alleged injured party would come to the office asking for Dobbins.

She told the court that the woman was 'not too pleased' if told he wasn't about.

This witness said that the woman was 'infatuated' with Dobbins and 'other members of staff' including herself.

She said that staff had to talk to the woman about 'personal space boundaries' and described her as 'touchy freely.'

The witness said she had been in a relationship with the alleged victim's sister and the woman had said she 'fancied' her then.

The trial also heard from this witness that the alleged victim's family had to get the internet taken out of the house as the woman was 'looking up the word sex'.

The witness said that the alleged victim had been 'spoken to' about trying to go into Dobbins' office and while '90% of the time she was really lovely and quite gentle' on this occasion she became 'quite angry and raised her voice.'

Another woman who worked in the Hope project which was attended by the woman at the centre of the allegations said that the she was 'obsessed' with Dobbins so much so that protocols had to be put in place to control her behaviour.

She said they had closed the blinds to stop the woman looking across to the main building and whenever she went there she had to accompanied by a member of staff.

She was asked by Eoghan Devlin representing Dobbins how the woman would react when she saw Dobbins and she said she would 'run over and grab him tight around the arm or shoulder.'

The witness was asked how Dobbins would react and she said he would 'pat her on the arm'

The court also heard that the woman had a screen saver on her phone that was a picture of Michael Dobbins.

The trial continues.