Poggiomarino: Two special education teachers investigated for abuse and abandonment of an autistic child.

Poggiomarino – “Continuous physical abuse caused bruises on his arms, back, legs, and forehead, making his school experience painful and humiliating.”

And then "Abandonment of a disabled student incapable of caring for himself." This was written by prosecutor Ugo Spagna of the Torre Annunziata Public Prosecutor's Office in the notice of conclusion of the investigation into two special education teachers at a comprehensive school in Poggiomarino, in the province of Naples.

The victim is a 10-year-old boy with severe autism who is non-verbal and attends primary school. The bully, under investigation for abuse, is a temporary support teacher who was supposed to care for the boy for a few hours a week. The "main" support teacher to whom the child has been entrusted for the past three years is also under investigation for child neglect.

Both are recipients of a notice of conclusion of the investigations formalized at the end of last May.

The school environment, the abuse, and the child's abandonment—left unsupervised throughout the school—are revealed in footage from cameras placed by the Poggiomarino Carabinieri at the end of last year in the corridors and classrooms frequented by the student and his special education teachers.

Carabinieri hidden cameras revealed abuse of disabled child

Gruesome scenes show the victim being grabbed by both arms and dragged out of the classroom, or grabbed by the back and forcibly pushed into the classroom. He was also yanked, thrown to the floor and against the hallway wall, pinned with his arms crossed and pushed against the corner of a desk. He was also forcibly pulled toward the bathroom, while the child struggled to resist, lying on the floor, and then dragged along the hallway on his bottom.

Images of violence and abuse that made the victim's school life "painful and humiliating," as the prosecutor wrote, at least until December 17 of last year, have led to legal proceedings against the two teachers for crimes aggravated by the minor's severe disability.

The mother of the autistic child reported what was happening inside the school, having noticed bruises and hematomas on her son's body on several occasions. "Sometimes I could hear my son screaming from outside the school, but I had no idea what was happening," the mother told our online newspaper.

Already in the 2024-2025 school year, the boy had returned home, on several occasions, with bruises on his arms, but the teachers, when asked for an explanation by his mother, had downplayed the situation.

In November, the police reported an incident that occurred during extracurricular activities.

Last November, however, the situation escalated so much that the child's mother filed a detailed complaint with the Poggiomarino Carabinieri.

Specifically, on November 7, 2025, the boy attended an after-school program in the afternoon and, after school, was taken by his father to a specialized center for therapy. The therapist noticed that the boy had several bruises on his arm and alerted his mother.

When he got home, his mother discovered that he also had bruises on his back and groin and took photographs of them.

At that point the woman asks the project manager for an explanation, who claims that the child was kept 'blocked' because he did not want to participate in the activities.

The woman's requests for explanations from the principal and the emails sent to the school fell on deaf ears, so a few days later she decided to report everything to the Carabinieri, who, on orders from the Torre Annunziata prosecutor's office, monitored the autistic child's school activities with hidden cameras.

It was enough to watch those videos, recorded up to December 17th of last year, to understand the context in which the young student lived during the school year.

The autistic child was left alone by his special education teacher who was busy decorating Christmas decorations.

The 'main' support teacher who looked after the child for about three years often left the classroom, leaving the boy alone and free to roam around the school, often brought back to class by school assistants or other teachers.

On one occasion, as video recordings show, he left the boy alone unsupervised for almost an hour while he 'put up Christmas decorations in the classroom and in the corridor.'

And if the main support teacher, accused of abandoning a disabled minor, used to often leave the classroom and leave the child alone, the other teacher in the few hours she was supposed to dedicate to the student did even worse.

Unable to engage and control the child, she yanked him, held him down, dragged him in and out of the classroom, pushed him, and knocked him to the floor, against the edges of the desks, and against the walls of the hallway. She then forcibly carried him to the bathroom, dragging him onto the floor on his bottom.

Violence to which the child, unable to speak, reacted by screaming, moaning, lost and defenseless.

Returning to school and the lack of communication with the top management of the comprehensive institute

A few days before the start of the school year, the victim's mother, along with her lawyer, sent a formal notice to the school demanding that her son be taught by special education teachers other than those under investigation, one of whom continues to work at the school.

Despite the serious charges, notified by the Torre Annunziata Prosecutor's Office, which will be investigated during a trial, one of the teachers, in particular, could be given coordination roles in organizing support activities for children with disabilities because she is among the most experienced.

An experience and professionalism that did not bear fruit in the case of the disabled child abandoned to himself and abused.

The victim and the suspect, or at least one of them, will have to live together in the same institution for the upcoming school year.

And in the organization decided by the institute, the institution that should protect him, what attention will be given to the young autistic child, incapable of talking about, expressing his emotions, anxieties, and fears?

How will the 'special' socialization and education program be managed, which should place the disabled child at the center of the school's interests and attention with professionalism and competence?

The similar case of the autistic child from Scampia who was mistreated by his support teacher

The case of the boy from Poggiomarino is almost identical to the one brought to light by a mother from Scampia last week. A special education teacher is also under investigation for the Neapolitan boy—discovered thanks to a hidden tape recorder—and the victim is a severely autistic student, unable to communicate, who returned home with bruises.

These are two almost perfectly overlapping cases in which the management of students with disabilities within schools often results in abuse, mistreatment, or verbal violence, amidst the indolence of administrators and teachers who too often blame the disabled victims rather than providing them with professional and adequate support aimed at inclusiveness and serenity.