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A father and son have been sentenced for assaulting several school pupils after a family member was bullied and taunted.
Rotorua car salesman Mounir Hassan Ayache, 51, and Chahin John Ayache, 21, painter, were each sentenced to 200 hours' community work this week after being convicted of three counts of assault and one of trespass.
Rotorua District Court was told the men had gone to Rotorua's John Paul College last March to pick up their son and younger brother, who had been punched by another student and suffered a cut above his eye.
The court heard that the boy told them another pupil had said Chahin Ayache was gay.
The Ayaches ignored a teacher who told them the matter was being dealt with and who asked them at least twice to leave. Between them, they assaulted five students aged 14 to 17, punching them in the stomach, face or neck.
The Post Primary Teachers Association said trespass orders were becoming more common as part of a growing arsenal of measures schools were being forced to employ to battle growing violence on school grounds.
Robin Duff, the new head of the association, said the average teacher could expect to face at least four incidents of harassment, bullying or abuse by a parent or family member of a student over the coming school year.
"It certainly suggests there is an increasing problem. We need to send a strong message that countering violence with violence is not acceptable."
The PPTA has no centrally held figures on the number of trespass orders issued by schools, but anecdotally it says they are on the rise. It is not known how many have needed to be enforced.
The orders can be served directly by a school and can stay in place for up to two years. Anyone breaching an order faces a fine of up to $1000 and three months in prison.
Former association president Debbie Te Whaiti said schools were being forced to take legal action to shut out parents and family members "demonstrating aggressive or undesirable behaviour".
John Paul College principal Patrick Walsh said the 200 hours' community work imposed on the Ayaches was inadequate and did not send a strong message.
He said it would not stop the "increasing trend" of parents taking the law into their own hands.
In the Rotorua District Court, Judge Paul Geoghegan said he accepted the pair's remorse, but that could not excuse their actions.
