Almost a month after the twins Leila and Alana (who had recently verbalized their wish to be identified as Iván) took the decision that ended the life of the second, the director of the Llobregat de Sallent high school, where they went the two sisters, has submitted his resignation. Josep Olivella communicated his decision in the course of a meeting of the cloister held on Tuesday afternoon, as several sources in the know have confirmed to La Vanguardia.
The meeting of the cloister revolved exclusively around the two sisters, who were in their first year of high school at the center and who repeatedly reported that they were being harassed by other students. A bullying that appears in the first police report that the homicide group of the Mossos d’Esquadra of the central police region sent to the judge in Manresa who is leading the investigation.
A complicated job that progresses without pause and more so now that the media pressure has subsided and the police can talk to the witnesses without the anxiety of the first days. But the tension was reproduced during Tuesday’s meeting, which was attended by the inspector of the Department of Education, Josep Roca, and the director of Territorial Education Services in Central Catalonia, Gemma Boix.
The director of the center defended the work that had been done, but admitted that, given the “unbearable” pressure suffered in recent weeks, he had decided to submit his resignation. Even so, he promised to continue in the position until the end of the year.
After the fact, the officials of the Department of Education assured that there was no evidence that the sisters suffered school bullying and that for this reason none of the planned protocols had been activated. Statements copied by the mayor of Sallent, Oriol Ribalta, who, like Educación, pointed out at first the “social environment” of the minors to seek explanations for the decision that Alana made and that she wanted follow his sister Leila.
Unfortunate first statements that caused the family to be upset and that the students themselves from the Llobregat high school called a rally first and a protest later, demanding responsibility and a public acknowledgment that things had not been done well.
What the center did or did not do, the tutor and the rest of the people with whom the two sisters interacted in recent times are being dealt with by the Mossos in a particularly complicated judicial investigation.
This week the police took a statement from the children’s mother. Maia Fortete went to the Mossos de Manresa police station accompanied by her lawyer at ten in the morning, and was testifying until a quarter past four. Five hours in which the woman wove a hard, difficult story, interrupted on more than one occasion by emotion, helplessness and tears, but essential for the researchers.
Both of them remain in the hospital of Sant Joan de Déu, where Leila is admitted, the other daughter who left a note saying that she did not want to die, but that she also could not leave her sister alone at that moment.
The doctors taking care of her have already removed her assisted breathing, but she continues to take a strong dose of painkillers to cope with the pain. He is aware, he recognizes his parents, his grandparents, but he knows nothing. The important thing is that she recovers physically, and the specialists will take care of strengthening her inside to emotionally manage what has happened and the absence of her sister.
In addition to the mother’s account at police headquarters, the police have already taken a statement from the director of the institute, Josep Olivella, the minor’s tutor and the mother of one of the sisters’ classmates. In the coming days, statements will be taken from three minors close to the victims who, after the fact, told the media different episodes in which the sisters were harassed and humiliated. As well as the way Alana faced and responded, to defend herself. A situation that was always resolved with her being punished at high school, with frequent expulsions from class and even from the school. A situation that the young woman repeatedly complained was unfair to her. And so he contacted the school’s psychopedagogue, whom he visited no less than 32 times.
