A 36-year-old teacher was sentenced after locking three children with autism aged 3, 6, and 8 in a playroom in the province of Santa Fe. The incident took place on January 31 in the town of San Lorenzo, and the sentence was issued this Wednesday. The teacher was sentenced to two years of suspended prison and three years of disqualification from teaching.
The first-instance judge of San Lorenzo, Griselda Strólogo, issued the sentence as part of a plea agreement presented by the prosecutor's office and accepted by the defense of the accused. The teacher had left the children unsupervised for 45 minutes, locked in with the doors locked, preventing them from leaving the place.
A mother, upon returning to the establishment to pick up her child, noticed the situation when she saw one of the kids trying to escape by scratching at the door. Later, around 6 PM, when the teacher returned to the location, she was confronted by the parents and neighbors. In her defense, she mentioned that she was absent to inject herself with dexamethasone, an anti-inflammatory medication.
The judge imposed a restraining order on the teacher to stay away from the victims, required her to compensate them financially, and mandated her to undergo treatment for problematic substance use, with residential care, as well as abstaining from alcohol and drugs. Additionally, the closure of the playroom was ordered, as it was determined that the minors were exposed to an unnecessary situation of danger.
