On 2 December last year, an SFO employee in his 20s was arrested and charged with raping several children. The investigation is now complete, and the man is charged with eight counts of child abuse. The man is charged with both rape of children and cases of sexual intercourse with children under 14 years. One evening in May last year, the principal at the first school received the man was sent by a report of concern from two students’ superiors that the students had been abused by the SFO-employed man. The Rector did not report any concern about abuse The Rector has explained that he discussed the report of concern with two employees at SFO, but they denied having seen anything disturbing. Then he allegedly confronted the staff member, but he denied having abused the students. The principal did not report further. A principal in Bergen had to quit after he did not warn of possible abuse of a child. Photo: Simon Skjelvik Brandseth / news Bergen municipality thinks this has probably led to more abuse at another school. In a notice of a meeting with the principal, they write: “It is also overwhelmingly probable that your handling of the report of concern has led to pupils at another school in Bergen municipality being subjected to abuse by the same employee”. On January 17 this year, the man was fired. BT gained insight into and discussed the termination decision first. Last week, BA was the first to announce that the man no longer works in the municipality. Illustration: Screenshot – Failure to report such a serious offense to your superiors is a gross violation of our employment contract and our routines. Not least, it is a great breach of trust above parents and students, says new councilor for kindergarten, school and sports, Linn Katrin Pilskog (Labor Party) Happens rarely Lawyer Birthe Eriksen calls the dismissal interesting in principle. She is an expert in employment law and notification, and has, among other things, researched the roles and responsibilities of employers and tenants. – There are very, very many cases where whistleblowers try to come forward with allegations of matters worthy of criticism. The fact that employers now insist that their own employees do not handle received notifications in a responsible manner is part of contributing to the notification institute functioning. – It is interesting, because we do not see it very often, says Eriksen. The Sponsor Service case was the first major case was the first major case where someone who failed to notify was held accountable, according to Eriksen. Photo: Silje Rognsvåg / news In 2006, the company’s chief financial officer was accused of not notifying further about accounting that gave the company artificially good results. Eriksen emphasizes that she cannot comment on whether the principal may have criminal liability in this specific case. In general, the lawyer is unsure whether the police will take a closer look at whether failure to report abuse at a school can lead to criminal liability. – We have not seen so many examples of this type of case, says Eriksen. – The routines were good enough The dismissal of the principal was done by the administration in Bergen municipality. Municipal director for kindergarten, school and sports Marius Arnason Bøe confirms that he made the decision to dismiss the principal, but has not answered news’s interview questions. Agency director for schools in Bergen municipality, Frode Nilsen, has rejected news’s interview interview. – Not reporting such a serious offense to their superiors is a gross violation of our employment contract and our routines. Not least, it is a big breach of trust above parents and students, says the city councilor. The city council believes that the instructions and procedures for notification were good enough. – There have been other cases in the same period where the tenants involved have followed instructions and procedures as they should.
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– Does not happen often – news Vestland
