Teacher who threatened student wins appeal and keeps job

A Broome teacher sacked three times over 15 months for threatening to break a boy’s legs has won a final appeal, allowing him to keep his job.

Kimberley Training Institute lecturer James Petticrew was dismissed in 2014 when he told a student to pass on a threatening message to the teen.

Mr Petticrew said at the time that he believed the teen was responsible for break-ins at his home because he was the only one who could get past his dog.

The KTI investigated and sacked Mr Petticrew three times and reinstated him twice.

The WA Industrial Relations Commission in Perth ordered his latest reinstatement after considering an appeal from the KTI.

WAIRC acting president Jennifer Smith said Mr Petticrew’s family had been long-term friends with the mother of a 16-year-old high school student he suspected of break-ins at his home and stealing money from his wallet.

In February 2014, Mr Petticrew visited the KTI automotive workshop for advice from another lecturer about repairs to his trailer.

He asked another high school student attending the course to pass on a message to the teenager he suspected that if he saw him near his house he would break his “f…ing legs”.

His comment was overheard by the lecturer and at least one other student.

Two days later, he was sent an email from then KTI managing director Karen Dickson advising him he was suspended on full pay pending an investigation.

Mr Petticrew emailed her the next day in which he admitted “probably being wrong” in passing a comment in front of students, but stated it was “in the heat of the moment”.

“In the email he had also explained he had been battling some personal issues with his daughter, combined with a very tense time during the audit process, a number of medical procedures, and on top of being robbed five times he had just ‘lost it’,” Ms Smith said.

He wrote a letter of apology to the student’s mother at the same time he contacted the KTI, who took out a restraining order on behalf of her son the following day.

Mr Petticrew objected to the order, which was cancelled in June when the mother failed to attend Broome Magistrate’s Court.

In dismissing the appeal, Ms Smith said Mr Petticrew was sacked three times and reinstated twice over 15 months while at the same time facing the prospect of losing his employer-sponsored housing, which was “plainly very stressful and oppressive”.

She said it could be reasonably concluded that Mr Petticrew had no intention of carrying out the threat.