Professor was sentenced with a suspended sentence for the death of a student due to a falling goal in Leiria

The Leiria Court sentenced this Friday, October 31st, a teacher to a suspended prison sentence of one year and two months for the death of a 15-year-old student due to the fall of a goal in a physical education class of a 9th year class, on the synthetic turf football field of Colégio Conciliar de Maria Imaculada (CCMI), in Leiria.

The Public Ministry had accused the teacher of the crime of homicide due to gross negligence, however the judge considered that the facts could not be classified as this type of crime.

“I am applying a sentence below the expected average, which will be suspended for an equal period, without any probation. No sentence will bring David’s life and no sentence will bring more suffering to the defendant than what he suffered that day”, said the judge, recognizing that the accused “was emotionally devastated” by what happened on May 25, 2021.

The judge adds that the sentence aims to “reestablish a certain social peace and sentimental peace for those who were involved in this”.

The court considered it proven that the teacher used the equipment, despite having alerted the school and the football academy to the lack of counterweights to support the goal and having warned students not to hang on the goals.

“Warning does not eliminate the risk, given the ages with whom you were dealing. On this day it made it easier, not accepting that the goal could fall on the student and cause his death. It was up to you to make the decision regarding the use of the goal on that day and in those circumstances”, stated the judge, adding that the teacher “should have acted by fixing the goal, in order to avoid the fall”.

“The failure to fulfill the duties to which the defendant, as a teacher, was subject should have foreseen the consequences. By failing to do so, the risk of an accident and consequences significantly increased, as happened”, he highlighted.

It was also proven that other students had already hung from the goals and there were no “falls or injuries”, but it reinforced that the teacher was aware of the danger.

It was not proven that the teacher’s conduct “was the direct cause of the young man’s death”, nor that “counterweights existed on that day or were accessible to the teacher”. “If there is this concern on the part of the defendant, it would not make sense to have counterweights and not have used them”, he stressed.