The parents explained to the court that their 7-year-old daughter had been admitted to Son Espases 5 times due to severe respiratory problems and twice ended up in the paediatric ICU with pneumonia.
Llucmajor Local Police noticed the 5-year-old boy; 6-year-old twins, and an 11-year-old girl playing in the street in February this year and questioned why they were not in school.
The parents said they were not taking them to school because of fears that they would become infected with Covid-19 and the possible consequences for their daughter.
The Officers were sceptical because none of the children were wearing face masks. The case was transferred to the Guardia Civil, who referred it to Court and it was later forwarded to IMAS, due to the existence of a possible risk situation for minors.
After the intervention by Police and the Court, the minors went back to school.
Statement
The father and mother are under judicial investigation and appeared in the Court in Palma in June. The father explained that the youngest children had not gone to school before the pandemic because they were not old enough and that the school was closed during the 2019-2020 school year so the children had not returned since then.
"If one of my kids goes to school and gets infected, they could bring it home," he said and the mother gave a similar statement.
The parents also pointed out that the children did not play with other minors or anyone else outside the family environment.
The head of the Court of Instruction warned the parents that, if they kept the children out of school, they could lose custody of them and that IMAS was already analysing the situation.
Both pledged to send the children back to class in September and the Defence lawyer confirmed that the parents had applied for school places for the children.
A report from Son Espases Hospital confirmed the serious health problems of one of the children, which was the reason the parents didn't want them to go to school.
The magistrate will have to decide whether to close the case now that the children are in school, or continue with the trial of the parents, who could be jailed for 6 months if they’re found guilty.
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