Prosecutors accuse a teacher from the Dr. Manuel Laranjeira school in Espinho of assaulting and humiliating students of foreign nationality, calling them “stupid and disabled.” According to prosecutors, the teacher sought to place young people in a disadvantaged position because of their nationality.
The crimes occurred during the 2019/2020 school year, when the accused worked as a first-grade primary school teacher in the school group of Dr. Manuel Laranjeira. The 63-year-old woman accused the seven students of not speaking Portuguese well, of making too much noise and of foreigners being to blame for the crisis in Portugal. The teacher also advised the young people to “go back to their countries.”
According to prosecutors, the teacher hit students on the head with books, slapped them in the face, calling them “stupid and disabled.”
The teacher is suspected of seven crimes related to abuse.
In January 2020, the teacher was suspended from teaching these minors following a disciplinary process initiated by the school team, which concluded that the accused “violated functional standards, namely the duties of care and correction.”
As a result, the General Directorate of Schools imposed a disciplinary sanction of a 30-day suspension, suspended for one year, while the teacher continued to carry out teaching duties in the basic education system until the date of arraignment. deputy, in August 2023.
The accused petitioned to start an investigation, and the investigator decided to transfer her to the court, as she understood that there was “sufficient evidence that the defendant committed the facts set out in the indictment.”
At the investigation stage, the accused denied the crimes, only admitting that it was a “difficult” lesson that she had never taken in 30 years of teaching, but said that she had no explanation for why these children and their parents imputed these facts to her.
He also said there were “inconsistencies and inconsistencies” in the juveniles’ testimony, which the judge said were “well-founded” due to the passage of time and the young age of the witnesses.