Son of teacher and security guard may end up ‘preventively detained’
Yesterday’s mass-stabbing attack on pupils at a school in Azambuja has seen the 12-year-old “caught in the act” taken to a hospital for psychological assessment, and two of those injured already discharged from the hospital where they were treated.
The school meantime has opened ‘as normal’ this morning, and efforts will be being made to impress that this was a one-off disgrace, something unlikely to happen again.
The trouble with this scenario is that parents interviewed by television stations yesterday spoke not only about previous incidents involving the same child, but violence generally in local schools.
As for the 12-year-old stopped from his frenzy by a school auxiliary, he has been described as the son of a teacher at another school (a teacher for children with special needs), and a security guard.
Correio da Manhã has referred to the possibility that the boy has been a victim of bullying and may be suffering from “problems of mental health”.
Whatever the truth, the reality is that the parents who brought their children to Azambuja school this morning are far from ‘comfortable with the situation’.
Psychologists have apparently been present, to offer support to whoever has turned up ‘as normal’, for the school day.
CM adds that the pupil worst injured in yesterday’s attack is “stable”, and was transferred from Vila Franca da Xira hospital to Lisbon’s Santa Maria.
The paper also refers to the PJ and Public Prosecutors discussing the immediate future of the attacker, after questioning both him and his parents. It may be that he is “submitted to preventive internment in a juvenile centre”. Nothing this far has been decided.
