A Wollongong teacher who allegedly erupted at his colleague after a dispute over supervising students while paddle boarding reduced her to tears, a witness has told a court.
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In the third day of Phil Saunders' hearing at Wollongong Local Court, a female teacher at the school they worked at gave eyewitness evidence to his alleged behaviour.
Former teacher at the school Erika Lampe said she watched Saunders' berate another female teacher, Sally Johnston, in front of three Year 9 students while on school grounds.
Saunders' stands accused of intimidating Ms Johnston after disagreements between the pair on two occasions after they were supervising a paddle boarding class.
In Wednesday's hearing, Ms Johnston took to the stand and said Saunders unleashed a "tirade" at her in front of students on school grounds on March 4 last year.
Ms Lampe said she remembers seeing Saunders "threaten" Ms Johnston in front of the students, adding that she heard him say "you better watch who you mess with, you don't know who you're dealing with" while pointing his finger at her.
The witness said about an hour later after the alleged ordeal, she went to check on Ms Johnston and found her crying in a staff room.
The court heard Ms Johnston had arrived late to Belmore Basin where she and Saunders were supervising students in a paddle boarding session.
She told the court on Wednesday that she apologised to Saunders, and alleged he responded "I'll make sure I'm 10 minutes late next time".
He allegedly then spent the next session in his car instead of in the water as he "didn't have his boardies".
Ms Johnston reported the incident to the PDHPE sports coordinator as she felt supervision had been "compromised". After Saunders became aware of the complaint, he allegedly verbally abused her in front of students.
Ms Lampe said she diarised what she saw happen to Ms Johnston, which was tendered as evidence in court.
In cross examination, defence barrister Mark Higgins questioned Ms Lampe on whether she had actually made the diary entry before Saunders was arrested on school grounds in March last year, suggesting it did not exist until after.
Ms Lampe maintained she made the entry the day of the alleged incident.
Among the intimidation offence, Saunders is facing five other charges including engaging in gambling with a minor, two counts of aggravated indecent assault of a victim under his authority and two counts of indecent assault of a person under 16.
He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
One of the alleged indecent assault incidents occurred when a student was waiting at a student services counter with a friend.
In the second incident, Saunders is alleged to have behaved similarly towards another student at the same school which left her fearful of what her teacher might do next.
In Monday's hearing, it was decided the indecent assault charges would be heard first, until a last minute change was made.
The court is dealing with the intimidation and gambling with minors allegations first, with witnesses expected to give evidence on the latter on Friday.
The indecent assault charges will be dealt with in a separate hearing at a future date.
The hearing continues.
Read more Illawarra court and crime stories here.
Grace Crivellaro
Court reporter for the Illawarra Mercury.
Court reporter for the Illawarra Mercury.
