Colleague came to aid of lecturer who ended up transported to hospital
Lisbon University’s Law Faculty was the centre of a “serious incident” this week when a student became irritated when he was caught cheating’ and launched a violent physical attack on one of his teachers.
Another student who tried to stop the violence ended up being bitten.
The incident happened during a crucial exam in Commercial Law last Tuesday afternoon.
According to reports, the exam was “the last opportunity” for candidates to conclude the course before 2026 (and the need to repeat/ go through a new year of lectures).
Invigilator Catarina Coelho noticed that one student had taped ‘cheat sheets’ to his Code of Commercial Law. She confronted him, discreetly – and he left the exam hall “visibly upset”.
About 15 minutes later, the student “returned in a rage, claiming to have spent five years trying to pass this particular subject. He then set about throwing “various objects” in Catarina Coelho’s direction, “including books and school materials”.
Another lecturer, Ana Filipa Santos Rocha, was also present in the exam hall and “placed herself between the aggressor and her colleague” – at which point she was “grabbed by the hair and pushed violently”, according to Público.
Jornal de Notícias suggests the attack was a great deal worse: the paper describes the student “grabbing the teacher by the neck, and smashing her head against a table several times”.
It is this woman who ended up in hospital.
The fracas continued as other students “tried to immobilise the attacker” – described by JN as a man “somewhere near the age of 40″ who only needed this final discipline to complete his law degree. One of them was bitten on the arm and left bleeding.
According to witnesses, the furious student then tried again to hit Catarina Coelho – but the lecturer managed to exit the hall and raise the help of a campus security guard.
The PSP was called to the scene and quickly took charge of the incident, while an ambulance was called.
In a statement issued yesterday, the Law Faculty confirmed that both lecturers were left in a state of shock.
The faculty has announced the opening of disciplinary proceedings against the student, who has been suspended from all university activities on suspicion of academic fraud.
The faculty will also be an assistant in the criminal proceedings that will follow.
Source material: Público / ZAP
