Monique (57) and Christian (63) are what we can call “everyday heroes”. Last Monday, while Christian was accompanying Monique to the doctor, both were surprised to see a 3-year-old boy in the middle of a road in the town of Jodoigne. Quickly brought back to the school which was 500 meters away, they wanted to alert us via the orange button so that the schools “redouble their caution and that this type of situation does not happen again.”
10 a.m., Monique and Christian were driving when they saw a 3-year-old child wandering in the middle of a road in the Jodoigne entity: “We were coming back from the doctor when we saw a little boy running alone on the main road. We stopped and I started running after him,“recalls Monique. “Then a lady also stopped and explained to us that there was a nursery school 500 meters from where we were. I got in the car with her and the child who kept crying. I tried to do the best I could to console him. The person who accompanied me to the doctor was following us in the car.”
I myself have grandchildren, I don’t want something like that to happen to them
Monique, still in shock from the situation, remembers thinking during the trip: “This school is still very far.” Arrived on the scene, Monique and Christian were able to enter the establishment without great difficulty: “The gate was not closed. Frankly, anyone could have entered the school and taken a child,” explains a scandalized Christian. “This story has been bothering me for a few days, I have grandchildren myself, I don’t want a story like that to happen to them,” adds Monica.
The school recognizes, but minimizes the facts
For the rest of the story, the versions diverge. Our two witnesses say that the teacher did not seem to have noticed the disappearance of the young boy. They also explained to us that the lady would have blamed the child: “While it clearly wasn’t him to blame. The little boy didn’t even reach the door handle. He couldn’t have escaped on his own. is aberrant,” says Christian.
Contacted, the organizing authority of the school, in consultation with the management, sent us the following response in writing: “The director actually noticed that a parent had, inadvertently, closed the latch of the entrance gate incorrectly when leaving the school. As a result, a child was able to leave the establishment for three minutes since “she realized this immediately. Fortunately, it had no consequences for him. The headmistress informed his parents, who were very understanding. She also immediately took measures to ensure that this gate is now closed key and equipped with a bell, for which I thank her for that.”