The boy underwent three hours of surgery at Hospital de São João, in Porto, and will be left “with physical and psychological consequences”, he said, asking for legal help to face the moment he is experiencing.
According to Nivia Estevam, Monday’s episode happened after other complaints had been made regarding “hair pulling, kicking and hanging”, and “no action was taken by the school”.
The mother criticized the fact that, on Monday, the school did not call the PSP, did not explain the seriousness of the situation (which she only realized when she was already in the ambulance) and that the employees had cleaned “the entire area” of the incident.
“The school is treating this like a joke gone wrong”, he lamented.
Carlos Silveira declined to provide further clarification on what happened on Monday, as the internal investigation was ongoing, but assured that “help was called promptly” and the school developed appropriate procedures.
“There is no PSP in Cinfães, only GNR. When INEM is activated [Instituto Nacional de Emergência Médica]if you consider it a serious situation, you automatically contact the security forces”, explained.
Nivia Estevam’s request for help was heard and a group of 15 lawyers have already made themselves available to handle the process.
“We will proceed with the complaint to the Public Prosecutor’s Office and we will deal with the administrative process, the school’s civil liability in terms of surveillance and the civil process”lawyer Catarina Zuccaro revealed to Lusa.
Regarding the criminal issue, lawyers will study what can be done, because “those involved are minors”, but they will have to be held responsible, he added.
“We are 15 lawyers who will act. Each group will have a part: criminal, administrative and civil”, explained Catarina Zuccaro.