14 DAY TRIAL // Portuguese police were faced with an apparent case of violence against children during the weekend, when they were called to a hotel in Algarve, after a drunk British couple allegedly threw their 14-month-old daughter into the swimming pool.
Staff members at the popular tourist resort of Albufeira in the Algarve contacted authorities after they noticed the foreign couple were “drunk and disorderly” and were acting crazy, putting their baby's safety in danger.
“We were called to a tourist resort where a foreign couple were drunk with a baby child and causing a disturbance,” a police spokesman told the Daily Mail.
In addition to the swimming pool incident, witnesses also claimed they saw the mother staggering around and bumping into walls with the little girl in her arms, on the eighth-floor balcony of their hotel room, while being visibly intoxicated.
“It was a tremendous fright, seeing the mum bumping into the walls with the baby in her arms, falling to the ground, getting up and falling again. I thought the little girl would fall over the balcony,” a witness told a local newspaper.
Staff at the four-star Hotel Paraiso in Albufeira confirmed the incident took place there during the family's stay at their resort, but refused to make other comments.
The toddler was taken into the care of social services, after officers responding to the incident allegedly spotted unexplained bruises on her body. After being examined by doctors, she remained in a local hospital under court order, while her parents were being questioned by police.
Local reports say that, when police arrived at the site, the father tried to fight with officers. However, the British pair, believed to be from Belfast in Northern Ireland, were not arrested, but face two separate investigations, one conducted by the Albufeira Judicial Court into the alleged behavior of the father, and the other carried out by the Court for Family and Minors in Portimão to determine the welfare of the baby.
After being interviewed at Albufeira Court, the girl's parents were allowed to visit her in the hospital. Apparently, no further action will be taken in Portugal against them.
Today, The Portugal News has reported that Portuguese child protection services confirmed that, after having spent three nights in hospital, the child would be allowed to return home to Northern Ireland with her parents, who agreed to be monitored by British social services.