A furious father has spoken out after discovering that his young son, who has Down’s Syndrome, was allegedly assaulted at school and the family wasn’t told for almost a week.
Eight-year-old Dominic Merta was reportedly smacked multiple times by a staff member during lunchtime at Hillside School in Cumnock, Ayrshire, on Wednesday, April 30. But his parents say they were only informed six days later, reported the Daily Record.
Dominic’s dad, Miroslaw, told the Daily Record he was stunned when the school finally got in touch via email on May 6, asking Dominic’s mum to come in for a meeting the next day. “The first we knew was when Dominic’s mum was emailed by the school,” he said. “She told me the incident had happened the week before but the school had only just told us.”
Miroslaw claims his son was smacked twice, then again two to three minutes later. “I immediately phoned the school myself and was stunned to learn that they hadn’t even phoned the police at that stage,” he said. Not wasting any time, he went straight to the police station that night and reported the incident himself.
The situation became even more difficult to process when he found out why the school hadn’t told them sooner. “The head teacher told me she had taken so long to tell us because she didn’t want to upset us on a bank holiday weekend,” he said, still clearly shaken. Even more shocking, he says the staff member in question was allowed to keep working at the school for another two days before being suspended.
Miroslaw now says he has no confidence left in the school. “The school has let us down badly. I don’t understand what they were hoping to achieve by keeping this from us for a week.” Since the incident, the family has kept Dominic out of school and are demanding to see a new care plan before considering sending him back.
“The school have told us that they are going to write up a care plan and try to gain my son’s trust again. We want to see that first and for a child psychologist to review it,” Miroslaw added.
Police Scotland confirmed a 50-year-old woman has been charged, and a report will be sent to the Procurator Fiscal. East Ayrshire Council also confirmed the woman is no longer employed by them, though it wouldn’t comment on the specific case.
For Dominic’s family, the ordeal is far from over, and trust in the system has taken a serious hit.
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