The trial of a school teacher accused of sexually assaulting teenage girl pupils by "striking them on their buttocks with drumsticks" will take place in September, it was ruled today.
The case against James Clark, 55, had originally been scheduled for last September (2020) but had to be put off repeatedly due to the suspension of sheriff and jury trials last year (2020).
Clark is said to have sexually assaulted nine girls over a period of seven and a half years at a Perthshire school, which cannot be identified for legal reasons.
Jury trials at Falkirk Sheriff Court, where the case to be heard, re-started last month, with jurors sitting in a cinema in Dunfermline linked by audio and video to the courtroom in Falkirk.
Prosecutor Mrs Alex Kirk said the case "will now be able to proceed".
She said she expected it would take a week, due to the number of witnesses.
Clark, is alleged to have struck three of the teenage girls at the school on the buttocks with drumsticks, as well as touching their buttocks and cuddling them.
He faces charges of sexually assaulting girls at the school by touching their buttocks.
All the assaults are said to have taken place at the school, but one of the alleged victims is also said to have had her buttocks touched and struck with drumsticks by Clark at another location.
Another girl is said to have been sexually assaulted not only at the school but in a vehicle on journeys with Clark.
Unlike the others, Clark is said to have removed her clothing and bitten her mouth and neck and before carrying out a series of sexual acts.
A number of the girls are said to have been subjected to sexual remarks made by Clark to them without their consent, for the purposes of him obtaining sexual gratification, or of humiliating, distressing or alarming them.
Clark also faces alternative charges, alleging that while the girls were pupils and he was looking after them, he engaged in sexual activity with them or directed at them.
The alleged offences are said to have spanned a period from August 2011 to mid-February last year (2019).
Clark, from Edinburgh, who was not present at today's preliminary hearing, pleads not guilty to all the charges against him.
Sheriff Simon Collins QC set trial for an assize starting September 13th.
For technical reasons, one more preliminary hearing will be held before then - on May 5th.
