“About the regrettable aggression against a nine-year-old Brazilian student, at Escola Básica de Fonte Coberta, in Cinfães, on November 10, it is reported that the Brazilian Embassy in Lisbon and the Consulate General of Brazil in Porto” are in contact with the student’s family.
“The ambassador of Brazil, Raimundo Carreiro Silva, today addressed communications to the Minister of Internal Administration and the Minister of Education, Science and Innovation of Portugal requesting information about the measures being taken in relation to the case, as well as its developments”, indicated, in a note, the Brazilian Embassy.
“It is reported that the Brazilian Embassy in Lisbon and the Consulate General of Brazil in Porto are in contact with the student’s family”, he also said, highlighting that the Consulate in Porto made himself available to “provide legal and psychological assistance to the family”.
On Saturday, the 15th, a source from the Ministry of Education told the agency Lusa that “the General Inspectorate of Education and Science determined the opening of a investigation process into the incident, at the request of the general director of the General Directorate of School Establishments”.
On Friday, Carlos Silveira, the director of the Souselo School Group, in Cinfães, had recommended to Lusa the opening of a internal investigation “to establish the facts”.
The situation was reported by Nivia Estevam, who on the social network Instagram presents herself as “mother of the 9-year-old child who had her fingertips amputated at school in Portugal”.
“Two children closed the door on my son’s fingers” when he went to the bathroom, preventing him “from leaving and asking for help”, said Nivia Estevam in one of the publications, adding that the boy “lost a lot of blood and he had to crawl under the door with his fingers already amputated”.
The boy was subjected to 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, the episode, on November 10, occurred after having already made other complaints regarding “hair pulling, kicking and hanging”, and “no action was taken by the school”.
The mother criticized the fact that, on that day, the school did not activate the PSP, not having explained to him the seriousness of the situation (which he only realized when he was already in the ambulance) and that the employees had cleaned the “entire place” of the incident.
“The school is treating this like a joke gone wrong,” lamented.
Carlos Silveira declined to give further clarification on what happened, as the internal investigation was ongoing, but assured that “help was called promptly” and the school has 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”, he explained.
Nivia Estevam’s cry for help was heard and a group of 15 lawyers made himself available to handle the process.
“We will proceed with the complaint to the Public Ministry 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, the group of 15 lawyers will study what can be done, he added.