SPANISH TOWN, St Catherine - A Rugby coach and a physical education teacher who allegedly exchanged blows in the staff room of the St Catherine High School, ended up in the Spanish Town criminal court on Thursday.

Coach Robert Haynes, 33, of Old Harbour, St Catherine, faced the court on a charge of wounding PE teacher Howard Brooks, 47, of Angels Estate, Spanish Town, and was given station bail of $40,000.

Brooks reportedly received a wound to the face and was treated at hospital.

However, when Haynes appeared in court he pleaded not guilty, and senior St Catherine Resident Magistrate Lorna Errar-Gayle extended his bail and adjourned the case to Tuesday, April 10, when it will again be mentioned.

Constable Nadine Banton told the court that on December 13, 2006, at about 2:45 pm both teachers had a quarrel in the staff room which ended in a fight. The court heard that Haynes punched Brooks in the face, causing a wound to the left eye. He was treated at hospital.

Statements were collected and submitted to the Clerk of Courts, who ruled on January 11, that Haynes be arrested on warrant and charged with unlawful wounding.

After hearing the allegations, Errar-Gayle chastised both teachers for their "flagrant" and "outrageous behaviour" at the institution, and questioned whether that was the ideal standard they had set out to inculcate in the minds of their students.

She then adjourned the case to April.

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