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RAPE

Man charged with abuse of disabled students

A teaching assistant who allegedly sexually molested students 15 times at a school for children with learning difficulties in Sweden was charged on Wednesday.

Published: 22 March 2012 15:08 CET
Updated: 23 March 2012 06:18 CET
Man charged with abuse of disabled students

The sexual assaults took place at a school near Uppsala, eastern Sweden, from 2008 until November 2011, when he was suspended from the school.

He was allegdly behind five rapes, six cases of sexual coercion, and four of sexual molestation, over half of which took place on school grounds. It is reported that the assaults occurred in a training hall, in the school, and in the swimming area.

“The grounds for rape and sexual coercion are due to the fact that he abused the students who were in a helpless situation,” said prosecutor Annika Bokefors to TT news agency.

The three victims of the abuse, who today are aged between 18 and 20 years, were responsible for bringing the crime to the attention of authorities after telling their families about the school employee’s actions. The school reported the man after receiving their reports.

The man, 40, denies the charges.

According to the indictment, the teaching assistant abused two female students and one male, one of whom could not be heard in court due to their disability.

In an open letter to the media, the parents have begged for respect and consideration.

“It is especially painful for us that the charged man has abused their position of dependence. Our children have had to struggle with their bad lives because of their various disabilities, and now they filled with confusion and insecurity,” they wrote.

“The police who have held the preliminary investigations have treated our children with great respect and have suited their working methods to our children’s disabilities”.

The trial is set to begin in Uppsala on April 2nd and is expected to last eight days.

The suspect was arrested on January 9th, and has been in police custody since January 12th.

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SCHOOL

Bavaria plans 100 million rapid Covid tests to allow all pupils to return to school

In the southern state of Bavaria, schools have been promised 100 million self-tests starting next week so that more children can start being taught in person again. But teachers say the test strategy isn't being implemented properly.

Published: 12 March 2021 17:12 CET
Bavaria plans 100 million rapid Covid tests to allow all pupils to return to school
Children in the classroom in Bavaria. Photo:Matthias Balk/DPA

State leaders Markus Söder said on Friday that the first 11 million of the DIY tests had already arrived and would now be distributed through the state.

“It’s no good in the long run if the testing for the school is outside the school,” Söder told broadcaster Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR) during a visit to a school in Nuremberg.

“Contrary to what has been planned in Berlin, we’ve pre-ordered in Bavaria: for this year we have 100 million tests.”

Bavaria, Germany’s largest state in terms of size, plans to bring all children back into schools starting on Monday.

SEE ALSO: ‘The right thing to do’ – How Germany is reopening its schools

However, high coronavirus case rates mean that these plans have had to be shelved in several regions.

In Nuremberg, the state’s second largest city, primary school children have been sent back into distance learning after just a week back in the classroom.

The city announced on Friday that schools would have to close again after the 7-day incidence rose above 100 per 100,000 inhabitants.

The nearby city of Fürth closed its schools after just two days of classroom time on Wednesday, after the 7-day incidence rose to 135.

The Bavarian test strategy plans for school children to receive one test per week, while teachers have the possibility of taking two tests a week. The testing is not compulsory.

But teachers’ unions in the southern state have warned that the test capacity only exists on paper and have expressed concern that their members will become infected in the workplace.

“Our teachers are afraid of infection,” Almut Wahl, headmistress of a secondary school in Munich, told BR24.

“Officially they are allowed to be tested twice a week, we have already received a letter about this. But the tests are not there.”

BR24 reports that, contrary to promises made by the state government, teachers in many schools have still not been vaccinated, ventilation systems have not been installed in classrooms, and the test infrastructure has not been put in place.

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