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

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.

A teacher from a school in Espinho, in the district of Aveiro, will be tried for allegedly attacking seven foreign children and sending them “to their homeland”, humiliating them in front of their colleagues.

The 63-year-old teacher, who is on medical leave, has been sentenced for seven crimes of ill-treatment, also incurring the additional penalty of prohibition from exercising public teaching duties for minors.

According to the prosecution, the facts occurred in the 2019/2020 school year, when the defendant was teaching 1st year students at a school in the municipality of Espinho.

Among the minors were seven foreign students to whom, according to the prosecution, the defendant addressed several times, saying that the foreigners were to blame for the crisis in Portugal and that they should “go to their land”.

The Public Prosecutor’s Office (MP) indictment also states that the defendant attacked several of these minors with slaps and blows to the head and called them “disabled and stupid” when they got the answers wrong.

In January 2020, the teacher was removed from teaching these minors, following a disciplinary process initiated against her 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.