A younger family member who spoke out against school bullying at the European School of Alicante raised the issue with juvenile court representatives. The proceedings describe the school as legally responsible for failing to intervene, in addition to naming the alleged harassers. The case remains under trial in Alicante, with two young defendants charged; one is held not to be a direct participant due to age, while both are connected to the same incident that centers on a 13-year-old victim.
The victim reports enduring a persistent cycle of insults and humiliation. The mistreatment began over the last year, when she was thirteen, as one of the defendants and another minor decided to repeatedly target her with taunts. The abuse frequently occurred in German, chosen to obscure understanding, and the perpetrators addressed her with sarcasm intended to demean. Expressions such as blank, plain, useless, ugly, and other demeaning terms were used. During a trip to a local swimming area on July 3, the harassment continued. When the girl asked for space, the response purportedly stated that they intended to target her family, including her mother. The case notes that the other accused minor later sent messages to the victim on WhatsApp. The messages suggested the perpetrator would be near her and, finally, included phrases like, “They wanted me to joke with you because you’re so ugly and strange, you’re a disgusting corpse” or “no one loves you.” These texts reportedly came from the brother of one of the accused, who did not attend classes with the other defendant.
The complaint concerns events spanning the previous year, from last summer through November 2022 and July 2023. When the school year resumed in September, the girl continued to attend classes alongside two alleged harassers, one of whom could not be charged. She sat only a few feet away from them in class, and the family criticized the center for not addressing the issue sooner. For months, the mother sought measures to keep her daughter from sharing a class with her alleged tormentors, who persisted in their behavior. As a consequence of the situation, the girl’s mother withdrew her from the school and the girl reportedly suffered psychological distress, including weight loss and heightened anxiety. The mother disclosed awareness of similar cases at the center and noted that two more of her daughters attended the same school, raising concerns about the broader environment. At first, the school offered remote learning, and in a later meeting proposed keeping the pupil in a separate room for the rest of her schooling, prompting her mother to consider transferring her to another institution. In the end, the family chose to relocate the student to another center.
The juvenile court ordered a forensic evaluation to determine the extent of the victim’s injuries. The indictment describes profound distress, a marked loss of self-confidence, a weight drop of up to three kilograms, and self-harm injuries to the arms. The family seeks 15,000 euros in non-pecuniary damages for the psychological impact and aims to recover part of the compensation from the two minor defendants’ families and the school if guilt is established. A sentence of one year in an open residential center is requested, reflecting the seriousness of the alleged degrading conduct and the alleged repetition of the acts by two minors. The prosecution also seeks twelve months of probation and 100 hours of community service for each defendant, without a separate damages claim being explicitly pursued in court filings.
The European School was contacted for comment, but officials stated that they could not discuss the case out of respect for minor privacy. They also indicated that they could not offer details about measures implemented. Court documents reviewed by the press indicate the school contends the complaint was filed during last year’s summer break and that it did not become aware of the issue until the new term began.
Accused
The two brothers accused of harassment denied the charges, with only one admitting to sending a message to the victim. Their legal representation argues that the alleged insults were not repeated and that using German was simply a classroom language choice rather than a tool to demean. The defense contends there is no evidence of repeated insults by the defendants and asserts that the two young people were friends in the school setting. They claim there is no proof that the accused sent the WhatsApp messages or that they acted in concert with others in planning a prank.
News coverage from the previous summer notes another bullying incident at the European School involving a 13-year-old girl and included racial slurs, tripping, and pushing by three other students, marking it as the second such event reported at the school in recent months. The current case is presented within that broader context of ongoing concerns about student safety and school response, as documented by local media and court records (Source: court filings and school statements).