The teacher from Anenii Noi district who is accused of maltreating a third grader received a reprimand from the school’s administration. Principal Natalia Pelin has told IPN that the teacher disputed the penalty in court and a hearing is to take place on August 21. Immediately after the incident, the teacher went on sick leave and is now on vacation.

Natalia Pelin does not believe that the teacher committed the acts of which she is accused by the prosecutors as she has experience of working in school for over 20 years. The basement where the student said she was held is always locked and only the principal has the keys to it. Moreover, all the teachers were at school that day and would have heard if the child had been ill-treated. The third grader is under police supervision as she earlier tried to steal money.

The primary school teacher will stand trial on accusations of inhuman and degrading treatment. The girl’s mother said that her daughter wanted to commit suicide because she was humiliated and ill-treated by her teacher. According to the Prosecutor General’s Office, the teacher hit the girl on the face and pulled her hair for the reason that she would have stolen money from her bag. The girl was also locked in the school’s basement for several hours. The investigators determined that similar cases happened earlier too. The Anenii Noi prosecutor’s office demanded that the teacher be suspended, but the district authorities took no steps so far.