A mum put a listening device in her daughter’s scrunchie and claims she found out that her teacher was verbally abusing her. Demi Saint suspected her daughter Eadie, five, was being bullied at school – and so she bugged her daughter.
But she discovered that what was upsetting Eadie was her teacher rather than other children. The mum’s concerns were raised when it become difficult to encourage her little girl to school in the tiny Australian town of Torbanlea, in Queensland, reports A Current Affair on a clip shared to reporter Zarisha Bradley’s TikTok page.
The mum said: “It’s a fight to get her to school.”
Demi thought bullying from other pupils might be the cause and left her little girl “emotionally withdrawn” and “distressed”. She requested a meeting with the school but when she didn’t get any answers she decided to take matters into her own hands and sewed a $40 (£21) recording device into a Christmas scrunchie.
The mum then spent hours trawling through the recordings. One segment of the recording said: “Unfortunately, Eadie, you lie all the time through your face. Lies, kicking, disrespect, defiance and harassment.”
The teacher accuses the little girl of kicking another child – but the school never got in touch about the incident.
The mum said: “The comment that really upset me the most was ‘you lie from your face’. I would say that’s verbal abuse. She’s five.”
In the recording the teacher also criticises Eadie for taking two days off school when her grandmother died. Some TikTok users shared their support of Demi’s actions.
One said: “I think there should be cameras in the classes that parents call (sic) log in and check on from home throughout the day.”
Another said: “Should be a live camera in each classroom!!!”
Express.co.uk has approached the school – Torbanlea State School – for comment. The Australian Department of Education told the programme: “There is no higher priority for the department than the safety and wellbeing of students.”
It added: “The department is aware of a recent allegation made against a staff member of a state school. Allegations against staff are dealt with in accordance with departmental guidelines.”
It also said that privacy rules prevented them from sharing anything more about the case. Queensland Police told the show that no criminal offences have been committed and police are no longer investigating.
