Five years of imprisonment, disqualification from holding public office and compensation for damages: this is the sentence issued by the Court of Castrovillari against two nursery school teachers from a private kindergarten in Cariati, in the province of Cosenza. The court thus accepted the requests made by prosecutor Flavio Serracchiani and by civil party lawyers.
The teachers, who were placed under house arrest in November 2019, were accused of mistreatment of around twenty children aged between 2 and 5. The investigations began after a series of anonymous reports. From the images and conversations captured through the video cameras installed by the police in the classroom showed the little ones covering their faces with their arms at the mere approach of the teachers who, according to the prosecution, had created a climate of real “psychological terror” with slaps, pushes, blows on the head, even with blunt instruments, and hair pulling.