Two former pupils of a top Aberdeen private school have told a court they were allegedly embraced inappropriately by their music teacher over a number of years.
Peter Parfitt is accused of sexually assaulting the pair while the former director of music worked at St Margaret’s School for Girls – charges he denies.
The 56-year-old, who joined the Albyn Place school in 2007, is alleged to have committed the offences on dates between 2012 and 2021.
Giving evidence at Aberdeen Sheriff Court, his alleged victims spoke of receiving multiple private hugs when alone together.
One of them said she didn’t report the physical contact to the school because she “feared a backlash”.
Parfitt is accused of causing one former pupil “fear or alarm” by “repeatedly seizing hold of her and embracing her” at the oldest all-through girls’ school in Scotland.
One of the complainers – a teenager – spoke via video link of Parfitt hugging her “really tight” in a “large embrace” that saw his arms wrapped fully around her and his hands laid on her rib cage.
She said the first time it happened, Parfitt told her, “I am going to miss you” before crying on her shoulders in the music room as the school prepared to break for a Covid lockdown.
Teen felt ‘really helpless’ as teacher sobbed on her
“As he hugged me, he was crying,” she told the court. “I could feel his shoulders moving up and down because of how much he was crying.
“I felt helpless and like he completely took advantage of my personal space and the situation I was in.”
She said the hug lasted around seven seconds, happened when they were alone and left her feeling so uncomfortable that she immediately left the room and ran, crying, to her friend.
On a later occasion, she said Parfitt gave her a chocolate bar and a card before hugging her and telling her how much he would miss her over the Christmas break.
“This hug was shorter than the last, probably because I made a bigger issue of trying to get out of it,” she said.
“He was properly wrapping his whole arms around me. His arms were on the side of my ribs and his head was on my shoulder.
“I stepped back completely, said thank you for the gift and moved away.
“I didn’t like the hug. I felt very uncomfortable as if my personal space had been abused a little bit.”
She said a third hug happened in a more public setting and it was “a complete contrast” to the other embraces, this time shorter and lighter, and that she “didn’t feel his hands that time”.
Fears speaking up would affect grade
Fiscal depute Anne MacDonald, leading the Crown evidence, asked the teenager why she didn’t report the incidents straight away, to which the young woman replied: “I felt like I couldn’t speak”.
“He was basically predicting my grade and I really needed the grade I wanted,” she said.
“I felt like I couldn’t speak up at that point in time.
“My issue was, I didn’t feel I could tell many people because I didn’t want there to be a backlash and then for it to be completely dismissed and for it then to affect my grade.”
The teenager also told the court how she felt that “nothing she did could annoy him” and she got preferential treatment from him.
“There was a clear difference between how he treated me and how he treated everyone else,” she said.
“I was praised a lot. There was no way of him ever getting annoyed at me. I was singled out and praised a lot. That’s where it all started.”
‘Close relationship’ with teacher
Parfitt is also accused of sexually assaulting a second former pupil, however, the allegation of “causing her any fear or alarm” has been deleted from the charge.
The woman, who attended the school for seven years, told the court that she was made to feel special by her teacher and that she “didn’t consider the hugs to be unusual at the time”.
She said she received between five and seven private hugs from Parfitt when she was aged between 14 and 18.
Of those, three or four happened when they were completely alone, she added.
In her evidence, she explained how she “categorised the hugs” into those that happened in public at places such as St Machar’s Cathedral, Aberdeen Arts Centre and the Music Hall, and those that happened in private at the school.
She also spoke of her “close relationship” with the teacher.
‘I thought he was somebody who cared about me’
“I had a great deal of respect and admiration for him,” she said. “At that time and age, I wanted that relationship with him. A close relationship.
“For me, as a musician and a pupil, it made me feel very comforted.
“I would say my relationship with Mr Parfitt was the closest relationship I had at the school with a teacher.
“I was never hugged by any other teacher at school.”
She added that she believed, at the time, the hugs were always “congratulatory”.
“I thought he was somebody who cared about me as a pupil and cared about my talent,” she added.
“I believed it was his way of congratulating me.
“My belief when I was at school was that it was a teacher-pupil relationship. What happened when I left school changed that.”
Denies charges against him
Parfitt, of Carmont Cottages in Drumlithie, Aberdeenshire, denies both charges against him.
Parfitt’s defence advocate David Moggach put it to both complainers that the hugs were a means of displaying “encouragement and praise”.
He asked both women why they didn’t report their claims at the time and he also told the court that it was “not unusual” for Parfitt to send congratulatory or festive cards to pupils.
Accused worked at other schools
Parfitt became musical director of the Aberdeen Bach Choir (ABC) in 2010.
He previously held teaching posts in Winchester and director of music positions at schools in Hampshire, London and East Sussex.
The 56-year-old has also directed a number of choral and operatic societies and appeared with many others as a soloist.
His trial, before Sheriff Eric Brown, will continue in February next year.
For all the latest court cases in Aberdeen as well as crime and breaking incidents, join our Facebook group.
