A teacher at a college in Leiria, accused by the Public Prosecutor (MP) of manslaughter due to negligence following the death of a 15-year-old student from a goalpost collapse, began trial today.
The incident dates back to May 25, 2021, at the Colégio Conciliar de Maria Imaculada, during a physical education class for a 9th-grade group, held on the synthetic turf football field of the establishment.
In statements before the court, the teacher claimed that before the accident, he had requested that the goalposts be weighted for safety reasons.
“I always insisted with the academy’s management [which shares the sports facility with the college] on the need for weights. I was informed by the president of the CCMI Academy that those goals came with weights on their lower bars,” he explained, noting that he also collaborated with that football academy at the time.
However, the defendant emphasized that he insisted and requested that sandbag tubes be provided, which were eventually used until they wore out.
The teacher added that he also sought a quote from the company inspecting the school’s equipment for the purchase of weights: “Over time, I have been concerned about this, and in all situations, we instructed students to follow the rules and not use the equipment for improper purposes,” he revealed.
When questioned by the judge about the rule requiring unfixed equipment to have weights to ensure safety, the defendant noted that “with or without a weight, if someone runs, swings, and hangs on the crossbar, the goal can still fall,” he observed.
Nonetheless, he stated he never expected “something like this could happen,” recalling that he had already gathered the students to wrap up the class when the student ran to the goal and hung on it.
“It was a huge shock,” he shared emotionally, sometimes unable to hold back tears.
The defendant recounted that later, a meeting was held by the college’s physical education and sports department, where the regulations were updated to include a clause stating that portable goals must be used with weights.
“What happened to me is the worst that can happen to a teacher,” he lamented.
In an emotional testimony, the victim’s mother explained she was arriving at the college when she received a call informing her of a “serious accident” involving her son. She witnessed the resuscitation efforts on her son on the football field.
The director of CCMI was also initially accused by the MP of manslaughter due to negligence, but the criminal instruction judge decided not to bring her to trial.
The MP’s accusation outlines that at 16:50, one of the groups “was playing handball near” one of the goals.
“One student was positioned in the goal as the goalkeeper, and the other three exchanged the ball to score a goal,” it states.
“It was at this moment, after a goal was scored, they changed goalkeepers, and (…) moved to occupy the goal,” the report describes, indicating that during this exchange, the victim “ran towards the goal” and “hung on the upper crossbar.”
Subsequently, the student was “projected forward, along with the goal, falling to the ground face down, with the goal collapsing on top of him, striking his head area.”
Despite immediate first aid by the teacher and the activation of emergency services, the student died at 17:44 at the hospital in Leiria.
