A SCHOOLGIRL has told a court she did not say anything straight after her teacher allegedly sexually touched her because she ‘felt uncomfortable’.

The youngster claimed Yaser Amin, 32, put his hand under her skirt at a Blackburn school.

It was put to the alleged victim by defending barrister Katherine Blackwell QC at Preston Crown Court that she had ‘no difficulty in sticking up for herself’.

When asked why she had not said something to Amin, of Whalley New Road, Blackburn, at the time, the girl, who cannot be named, said she was too afraid.

She told the jury: “I did not feel comfortable, so I thought I would just leave it. I was scared. I did not know what to make of it.

“I did not know if it was something or nothing, I did not know whether to just leave it. I did not want everybody gossiping.”

The alleged victim agreed she had not seen the maths teacher act in an inappropriate way with anybody else.

When the matter was reported to the headteacher, the alleged victim and another girl were told not to gossip about what they had said, the court heard.

But Miss Blackwell said rumours soon started.

Speaking to the girl on a video link, she said: “As soon as you and another girl made complaints against Mr Amin, everybody was talking about it.

“Do you remember getting told off about discussing it with other people?”

“No, I do not remember,” replied the girl.

Paul O’Brien, prosecuting, asked if she had been telling the truth: “It has also been suggested to you that this never happened... You are making this up. Are you telling the truth?”

The girl answered: “Yes.”

The court then heard from the friend of one of the alleged victims.

She said: “She looked at me straight away and she said ‘he touched my leg’. She looked scared and her eyes popped out when she said it.”

When asked by Miss Blackwell if she thought her friend was being ‘dramatic’, the witness said: “No because she genuinely seemed scared about it and shocked.”

Amin denies two charges of sexual assault on a child aged under 13 and three of sexual activity with a child between January and June 2012.

(Proceeding)