MP investigates school abuse: Sleeping drops, vomiting, high

O Externalo Santa Francisca, located in the parish of Penha de França in Lisbon, is being investigated on suspicion of child abuse.

Ao News to Minutes, the Attorney General’s Office (PGR) confirmed the existence of an investigation, “which originated in complaint lodged”, and which is under investigation in the DIAP of Lisbon.

It is, according to the newspaper Express, who advanced with the news, a complaint filed by a former employee. The former school worker, consisting of kindergarten, preschool and 1st cycle, accuses the director of the establishment of “felling high in the back of the boys”, “manieting the children” to force them to eat and mix in the soup drops to sleep, which are only indicated for adults.

On the weekly, two auxiliaries of educational action revealed that they quit because they did not want to agree with the way in which the guardian treated the children.

“ He asked me to hold the arms of a five-year-old boy to force him to eat and I refused ", exemplified one of the former employees, stressing that the time of meals was the most tense of the day.

“ He would force the soup into the children’s mouths and, if they vomit, he would force them to eat more, screaming and giving them high on the back of the head”, he denounced, ensuring that he saw the director mixing in the soup of a 4-year-old girl sleeping drops, from a bottle he needed: “only for adults”.

“It’s very rough with children. He slapped a three-year-old boy hard, who even raised his feet from the ground,” the same witness added.

Another ensured that he witnessed “a number of attempts to force the children to eat so hard that they choke”. “I saw the director spank a two-year-old child, detracting an autistic boy, having an aggressive posture and constantly yelling at the boys. I quit because I could not see these situations ", lamented.

Asked by the newspaper about the situations in question, the director denied “any situation that could harm the physical or psychological integrity” of the minors and said she was unaware of whether or not there is an ongoing investigation.

However, still according to the Expresso, two weeks ago, a resident of a neighboring building called the police because of the screams she heard from the minors.

“ The children wept convulsively, in an absurd way, and listened to them choking and begging to scream: ‘stop! stop! take it off!’. It was so distressing that I could not ignore ", reported.

In this case, the head of the college confirmed the occurrence, but she is not aware of what the authorities have concluded. “I was not called to make statements and I have no knowledge. It must have been someone ill-intentioned to make this complaint ", shot.

At the beginning of last year, when no whistleblowers were still working at school, an anonymous complaint was filed at the Education and Science Inspectorate, reporting situations of maltreatment to minors in college. In this case, the MP concluded that there were no “indictments of the alleged facts”.