Overview

• On March 22, 2024, 18-year-old Kieran Matthew seized teacher Carol Shaw in a rugby-style grip and hurled her head-first onto a concrete floor at St Paul’s Academy in Dundee.
• The assault left Shaw with a significant head scar, concussion and ongoing panic attacks, nightmares and night terrors that ended her teaching career.
• Sheriff Tim Niven-Smith imposed three years of social work supervision with mandatory mentoring, anger management courses plus a 12-month overnight curfew instead of a prison term.
• The plan to avoid a jail sentence reflected Scottish guidelines that prevent short-term custodial terms for first-time offenders who enter early guilty pleas.
• Matthew was diagnosed with ADHD, with a history of aggression that Shaw, designated his ‘safe person’, had previously de-escalated.