PARENTS of young boys who were allegedly sexually abused by a sports coach at an Inverclyde primary school have told a court trial of their shock when they learned of the claims from their children.

Accused Daniel Wilkie is said to have touched the private parts of three six-year-olds as he tucked in their t-shirts whilst alone with them individually underneath a piece of play equipment described as a ‘parachute’.

The mother of one boy recounted how she felt when her son spoke to her.

She told Greenock Sheriff Court: “I was horrified, absolutely horrified.

“I went upstairs and cried, thinking, ‘Surely not?’.”

Wilkie, 25, is said to have got beneath the tarpaulin parachute with the boys and indecently assaulted them as the youngsters assumed the role of ‘sharks’ during a game called Sharks and Lifeguards, in which they try to pull other children towards them while ‘lifeguards’ attempt to save them by pulling them in the opposite direction.

The mum, 38 — who said she has been put on medication for anxiety since the alleged incidents — told the trial: “I told my son that he was a big boy and he could tuck himself in and he said, ‘It’s a game’.

“I was broken. I broke my heart on the phone to the police. Your life is turned upside down in the space of a few hours.”

The father of another of the boys said: “My son mentioned that the coach had put his hand down his shorts and rubbed his private parts.

“I was a little bit numb, to be honest. Numb, scared and shocked sums it up.”

Asked by prosecutor Lindy Scaife what impact the case has had on his family, the dad, 44, replied: “It is hard to describe. As much as the defendant may have had sleepless nights, I’ve had sleepless nights since it started.

“It’s had a big impact. I hope it’s had no lasting impact on my son.” 

Defence advocate John McIlroy put it to the man that in his statement to police he said that his son had said to him that Wilkie had ‘brushed’ instead of ‘rubbed’ his son’s privates when tucking him in.

The father dismissed that as ‘semantics’, adding: “It is not normal to tuck a child in when you are alone with them under a tarpaulin, and so vigorously as to go all the way to the genitals.”

The mum of another of the boys choked back tears in the witness box as she told of the moment her son told her that Wilkie had ‘tickled’ his private parts.

Asked by fiscal depute Ms Scaife how she felt at the news, the woman, 38, replied: “Sick.”

She said that her son told her that Wilkie had touched him with his hand ‘going into his pants’.

Of the impact the case has had on her, the woman said:

“Quite terrible. I don’t feel like I’ve fulfilled my role of protecting my wee boy. I feel like I’ve let him down.”

All three parents replied ‘Yes’ when asked if they believed their children about what is alleged to have taken place.

The school’s head teacher told the court that tickling a child was ‘not acceptable’ and stated that children should be encouraged to tuck their own tops in and be shown how to do it through demonstration, if necessary.

Ms Scaife asked: “Are primary 2 children capable of tucking themselves in?”

The head teacher, 42, replied: “The majority of children, yes.”

When it was put to her that Wilkie had tucked the boys in, she said: “That is unnecessary. I don’t see the necessity to do that.

“I can’t think of a valid reason for children needing to have their tops tucked into their shorts.”

The head teacher added: “I was very upset when the allegations of that type were made and that children may have been harmed whilst under my care.”

Under cross examination by advocate Mr McIlroy the head teacher said that the father of one boy had made a complaint that his son had been touched twice, adding: “He further described it as very vigorous tucking in.”  

Wilkie’s line manager Gillian Bond, 42, said that it was ‘probably not normal protocol’ to tuck a child in whilst alone with them under the parachute.

Asked by prosecutor Ms Scaife if it would be considered inappropriate, Miss Bond said: “It is not something that we would be endorsing.”

Ms Scaife asked if a coach should be under the parachute with the ‘shark’.

Miss Bond replied: “Not normally.”

Advocate Mr McIlroy pointed out that Wilkie first began working as a volunteer sports coach in 2008 whilst still at secondary school and went on to become employed as one in 2010.

He put it to Miss Bond: “You have known him a long time and to date these are the only complaints brought about him.”
Miss Bond replied: “Yes.”

Wilkie, of Brookfield Road in Port Glasgow, denies allegations of sexually assaulting three boys at an Inverclyde primary school on or around January 31.

The trial, before Sheriff Derek Hamilton, is due to resume on August 23.