The Coalition for the Protection of Children is calling for an inquiry into claims that a headmistress urged parents of a child alleging abuse by a teacher not to go to the Police.

The case of a 33-year-old teacher accused of pulling the penis of a pupil was thrown out of Magistrates? Court last week, leaving the parents of the eight-year-old furious.

And the mother of the youngster has since told that when she went to complain to the school about the incident in the January, the school?s headmistress pleaded with her not to go to the authorities.

Sheelagh Cooper president of the Coalition, is now calling for an investigation claiming that the headmistress may have breached legislation.

?This is a serious situation,? she told

?When the headmistress was first approached, if she did try and deal with the situation internally then you wonder whether she has violated child protection legislation.

?There is a duty of care to treat all allegations seriously.?

She claimed that a head teacher has a duty of care under Section 20 of the Children?s Act to act immediately when there is any report of any sexual misconduct in a school.

She then wrote a letter to the Police herself, making an official complaint against the headmistress and her handling of the allegation.

The boy?s mother claims that when she called for a meeting with the headmistress following her son?s allegation that the teacher had pulled her son?s penis, she was told that it would be dealt with internally and asked her not to go to the Police.

This infuriated the mother, whose son immediately transferred schools.

?She was trying to tell me not to worry about and that is something that the school would deal with themselves,? said the mother.

?They didn?t want me to go the Police. But of course we did go. That is no way to deal with something like this.?

Acting Director of Public Prosecutions Kulandra Ratneser said he was not aware of the allegation and admitted that he didn?t believe it was an offence, although he said that it could be ?a matter for the Department of Education?.

The headmistress of the school, which cannot be named for legal reasons, said she did not want to make a comment, nor would she give details of whether the teacher was suspended during the Police investigation and subsequent court case.

As well as concern over how the school dealt with the incident, Ms Cooper has many other concerns about the case, which she described as ?unbelievable and a complete travesty?.

She is furious that the child had to be cross-examined for more than five hours in a closed courtroom without the benefit of a screen.

?What sort of message does this send out to parents who want to protect their children?,? she continued.

?It tells them that if they want the best for their child they should never come forward.

?They will want to err on the side of protecting their child and if they know that a young person would have go through this sort of process than they will not proceed. Why should a child be re-victimised in this way?

?The legislation is sufficient and we have even provided a screen to the court that can be used to make it easier for a child to give evidence.

?It is just about a magistrate showing common sense and allowing the child the protection of a screen.

?Aggressive cross-examination of children is unfair, inhumane, unnecessary and more than likely to yield distortion than to exact truth.?

She also claimed that the matter should have gone to Supreme Court where ?there is more experience in handling matters of this sensitive nature?.

She said that she was also concerned with the ?big problem? of sexual abuse of children in Bermuda.

?The prosecution rate is very low and the conviction rate is ridiculously low,? she added.

?I think the problem is expanding and is becoming more widespread and failed convictions do nothing to deter people from this sort of behaviour.

?If people do come forward but convictions can?t be secured, then where does that leave us??

She said she originally thought that an increase in reported cases of abuse against children was due to an increased public awareness of the problem, but is now beginning to believe it is because the problem is actually getting worse.