Teacher accused of attacking foreign children and sending them “to their homeland” – Portugal

A teacher, from the Dr. Manuel Laranjeira School group, in Espinho, is accused, by the Public Prosecutor’s Office, of attacking and humiliating students of foreign nationality, calling them “stupid and disabled”. According to the Public Ministry’s accusation, the teacher aimed to make young people inferior because of their nationalities.

The crimes occurred in the 2019/2020 school years, when the defendant was a teacher in a first-year class at the basic school in the Dr. Manuel Laranjeira school group. The 63-year-old woman accused the seven students of not expressing themselves well in Portuguese, that they were making too much noise and that foreigners were to blame for the crisis in Portugal. The teacher also told the young people to “go back to their countries”.

According to the Public Ministry’s accusation, the teacher hit the students, with books, on the head, with slaps, calling them “stupid and disabled”.

The teacher is suspected of seven crimes of mistreatment.

In January 2020, the teacher was removed from teaching these minors, following a disciplinary process initiated by the School Group, which concluded that the defendant “violated functional norms, namely the duties of care and correction”.

As a result, the Directorate-General for Schools imposed a disciplinary penalty of suspension for 30 days, with its execution suspended for one year, with the teacher continuing to carry out teaching duties in basic education until the date on which the accusation was brought. of the MP, in August 2023.

The defendant requested the opening of an investigation, and the investigating judge decided to take her to trial, as she understood that there was “sufficient evidence of the defendant committing the facts described in the indictment”.

During the investigation phase, the defendant denied the crimes, only admitting that it was a “difficult” class that she had never experienced in 30 years of teaching, but said she had no explanation for these children and their parents imputing the facts to her.

He also claimed that there were “inconsistencies and inconsistencies” in the minors’ statements, which the judge said were “perfectly justified”, due to the time that had passed and the young age of the witnesses.