An elementary school counsellor in the US state of Georgia has been arrested for not reporting the alleged abuse of a five-year-old student within the mandated 24 hour period.

The counsellor, however, has claimed she attempted to report the abuse within 24 hours after she first heard about it.

"I think there's been a grave injustice to and being done to my client," the counsellor's attorney Keith Martin told a  Atlanta TV news program.

He said the counsellor had attempted to report the alleged abuse to Georgia's Division of Family and Children Services, to whom she left several voice mail messages.

"She documented it and she reported it within the school system; she attempted to report it to DFCS at least three times with no response," he said. She reported the abuse to the police two days later.

The school system said the counsellor had still broken the law. "We have to be concerned with the care and safety of our students and you've gotta call 'til you get somebody," said a spokesperson for the local school system.