The teachers of the Santa Maria Navarrese nursery school accused of mistreatment of some children entrusted to them were acquitted. After four years of trial, the sentence issued by the judge of the Court of Lanusei, Mariano Arca, put an end to a nightmare for Francesca Piludu, a teacher from Tortolì, and Pina Mameli, originally from Ilbono but transplanted to Santa Maria Navarrese. At the end of the discussion, in the context of the abbreviated procedure chosen by the accused, the judge acquitted them with the formula because "the fact does not constitute a crime", reserving the right to file the reasons later. Piludu, assisted by lawyers Stefania Mereu and Antonio Careddu, was accused of mistreatment, while Mameli, protected by Marcello Serra, for having remained silent despite having direct knowledge of the mistreatment. The prosecutor, Giovanna Morra (the investigation had been opened by the deputy prosecutor Gualtiero Battisti), had requested a sentence of 4 years and 4 months (net of one third of the sentence applied for the shortened one) for Piludu and 3 years 8 months for Mameli. Yesterday, when the sentence was read, the two teachers broke down in liberating tears.
The reactions
«It is the end of a nightmare for our client», say the lawyers Mereu and Careddu. "Thirty-five years of honorable service and dedication to the education of pre-school children by teacher Piludu - the lawyers continue - risked being tarnished by unfounded accusations and superficial and mystified interpretations of the facts". The defense demonstrated with cutting-edge documentary productions and a correct classification of the video captures how the accusations against them were exaggerated and abnormal: «Thanks to the correct contextualization of the shreds of footage artfully extrapolated by the prosecution - say Francesca Piludu's lawyers - we managed to return faithfully the reality of the facts and episodes contested, removing any doubt about the exclusively educational intent, rigorous yes, but merely educational, always kept by teacher Piludu in the classroom in the performance of her profession, also excluding any kind of abuse". The civil parties, 11 families, had appeared with the lawyers Luciana Pisano and Luigi Porcella.
