NSW Supreme Court criticises Queanbeyan magistrate Roger Clisdell over 'regrettable' rant

"Gee, I wish I could go back and sue all my teachers from primary school," magistrate Roger Clisdell said while acquitting a woman who "slapped" the child's left shoulder in her class.

"This is a classic case of the insanity that has overtaken society in the 21st century."

A judgment, published on Thursday, shows he made the comments last year during the case of former teacher Emma Tiller, who was sacked by the NSW Department of Education and charged with assault over a March 2021 incident.

While Ms Tiller admitted striking the year two student on the shoulder, she pleaded not guilty and argued she had acted to defend another person.

She said she had seen the boy, on the day in question, simulating a penis with a "little bunch" of blocks he was pointing "really close" to another child's face.

Ms Tiller indicated she yelled at him to stop but he did not, so she "pushed his arm from behind".

After apologising to the boy, who cried, Ms Tiller told a supervisor she had "made a really big mistake".

MORE COURT AND CRIME NEWS:

The boy gave an account of the teacher having "smacked" him, bruising his arm, while he was packing up blocks.

He thought the teacher must have have wrongly believed he was "doing a pee".

During a hearing in Queanbeyan Local Court, defence lawyer Paul Edmonds argued a teacher should be able to use physical force if they perceived a threat to a student in their class.

However, a prosecutor contended Ms Tiller's actions had not been reasonable.

Mr Clisdell let loose as he found Ms Tiller not guilty of two assault charges, revealing his daughter had suffered "a nervous breakdown" while teaching.

The magistrate recalled learning to keep his head down when he was a school student because his teachers "used to chuck the blackboard duster" at those who misbehaved.

In this case, Mr Clisdell said the boy was being "a potentially dangerous idiot" and Ms Tiller would have been held responsible if the "delinquent" had hurt another child with the blocks.

He suggested the world needed to "wake up" and "start putting the adults back in charge rather than the juveniles, or our society will go the way of the Roman empire".

"Guess what, Western society is following it, chapter and verse, 2000 years later," Mr Clisdell said, claiming children's rights had taken away "control and power" from adults.

"The insanity of allowing lunatics to run an asylum has become endemic in our society, and the courts cop criticism all the time because we don't stand up for what people see as proper values," the magistrate fumed.

"One of the problems we've got is 3 million pieces of legislation that control every breathing moment of our lives and whether you walk down the street in the wrong direction, or you don't use your indicator in your car as you leave a roundabout, whether you cough inappropriately, whether you pick your nose in public.

"The whole world has gone completely and totally insane, and it frustrates the hell out of me."

Mr Clisdell also said the education department should be ashamed of its decision to sack Ms Tiller, adding: "If they end up with no teachers, it'll be their own fault."

The NSW Director of Public Prosecutions subsequently appealed against Mr Clisdell's decision to dismiss the charges.

Justice Sarah McNaughton upheld the appeal on Thursday, setting aside the verdicts and remitting the charges for determination by a different Local Court magistrate.

The Supreme Court judge said it was "entirely regrettable" Mr Clisdell had used the "emotive language and personalised examples that he did" in his decision.

"It would appear that this matter resonated with [him] in an inappropriately emotional way and in a manner which appeared to cause him to stray from his judicial task of calmly assessing the evidence, making findings, making a judicial decision, and providing reasons in accordance with the dictates of his office and the rule of law," she said.

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: