Authorities charged a teacher with child abuse after alleging that she fed a student garbage.

The Supreme Court overturned a Court of Appeals (CA) decision that found a teacher guilty of child abuse. This occurred after the teacher was able to stuff garbage into her students’ mouths.

Melany Garin’s petition was denied in a four-page notice issued on January 22, and she was sentenced to four years, nine months, and eleven days in prison, reduced to six years, eight months, and one day. Garin was also ordered to pay the child’s expenses.

The total award was P75,000, with P20,000 going to moral damages, P20,000 going to exemplary damages, P20,000 going to temperate damages, and P15,000 going to a fine. The court stated that“from the finality of the resolution until fully paid, all damages awarded shall earn legal interest at the rate of 6% per annum.”

“On this score, petitioner’s act of forcing the victim, AAA, and his classmates to place in their mouths pieces of trash, consisting of scraps of paper, pencil shavings, dirt, and candy wrappers from the classroom’s dustpan, undoubtedly debased, degraded, and demeaned their intrinsic worth and dignity as children,” it stated.

The child, according to the Court, was lead poisoned and suffered from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. The CA stated unequivocally that no self-respecting human being would willingly put garbage in his or her mouth unless coerced to do so.