This is Bristol --A GIRL aged nine hugged a soft toy as she told police a teacher had repeatedly pinched her bottom.
In a recorded interview, the youngster said John Alway would sit at his desk marking her work and "squidge" her backside as she stood beside him.
She is one of eight complainants who claim the supply teacher sexually abused them during his stints at four primary schools in the Bristol area.
Alway, 60, of Juniper Way, Bradley Stoke, denies a charge of attempted rape and 22 sexual assault charges relating to eight girls between 1997 and 2004, when the youngest alleged victim was nine.
A jury has been told the teacher grabbed girls' bottoms and, on one occasion, attempted to rape one youngster as he pinned her down, naked, in a locked classroom.
The jury watched a DVD recording of an interview one of the pupils gave to police in 2004, detailing allegations over Alway's conduct at a South Gloucestershire school.
She said Alway would tell her "Well done, poppet" before running his hand down her back and squeezing her buttock.
She said: "He didn't do it all the time, just sometimes. He did it 70 out of 100 times."
The girl said Alway's handling of her made her feel scared and uncomfortable, adding: "I didn't know what was going to happen next. I don't know who he is.
"He shouldn't be doing it, I don't know him."
The pinching was noticed by the girl's classmates, she said, adding that Alway never did it to boys.
She told police: "I told my mum. He kept doing it. I didn't say anything to him about it.
"Before the bottom squidging he was really nice. I thought he was the best teacher ever."
The complainant, now an adult, was cross-examined in court yesterday and stressed that the touching was repeated and therefore not accidental.
She said she was telling the truth and the allegations were not the product of classroom malice.
The complainant, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said that when she told police "he pinches our bum", she meant only her backside.
She said the way she said it could have been due to her Bristol accent, telling the jury: "I was only nine. You don't think about things like that when you're nine. You just tell the police what he did to you. I didn't lie."
The jury has heard that Alway was put on trial last summer in relation to allegations from three complainants but when the Bristol Post reported on the case five more complainants came forward, which led to proceedings being halted and prompted a new trial.
The case continues. Reported by This is 51 minutes ago.