With a team of 15 lawyers already stepping in to pursue this brutal incident, IGAS – the general inspectorate of education – has opened an investigation into ‘the circumstances surrounding the loss of the tips of two fingers’ of a nine-year-old boy at Cinfães’ Fonte Coberta school last week.
Our story yesterday referred to the child’s mother claiming the school had been ignoring her concerns that her son was being bullied – and when this latest incident happened, it seems to have tried to play it down.
The mother, Nivia Estevam, is adamant that her son ‘receives justice’, she has told CMTV. She feels that at the very least the pupils that have been bullying him need to be punished.
The incident in the school cloakrooms last week sounds truly horrific. Thus, it falls well within the scope for an investigation by IGAS.
Carlos Silveira, the director of the Cinfães school grouping that includes Fonte Coberta has also confirmed that an internal inquiry has been opened “to ascertain the facts”.
The worst of this story is the fact that the victim, nine-year-old José Lucas, had to endure a three-hour operation at São João Hospital in Porto, and is severely traumatised.
His mother has written over social media, and told CMTV, that her son has endured ‘hair pulling, kicking and choking”, yet “no action was taken by the school”.
The school also did not call the police, did not explain to her the seriousness of her son’s injuries when they called her to say he had been hurt, and ‘cleaned the entire area’ of blood before she was able to see the scene, she stressed.
Carlos Silveira “declined to give further details about what happened”, writes Lusa, “as an internal investigation is ongoing”. But he assured that emergency services were promptly called, and that the school had followed “the appropriate procedures”.
“There is no PSP (Public Security Police) in Cinfães, only GNR. When INEM (National Institute of Medical Emergency) is called, if it considers it a serious situation, it automatically contacts the security forces,” he told the state news agency.
The group of 15 lawyers that responded to Nivia Estevam’s online appeal for legal support have already said they will be filing a complaint with the Public Prosecutor’s Office. “We will deal with the administrative process, the school’s civil liability in terms of supervision, and the civil proceedings,” lawyer Catarina Zuccaro told Lusa.
Regarding the possibility that this could be taken as a criminal matter, the lawyers will study what can be done, because “those involved are minors”, she said.
Throwing something of a curved ball into the picture today on CMTV, Nivia Estevam also complained that the school’s PE teacher showered with the children naked, something she believes should not be happening.
