Teacher 'cut boy's tongue' to silence him

A teacher was sacked in Italy yesterday after cutting a seven-year-old boy's tongue with a pair of scissors to silence him during a lesson.

The unnamed 22-year-old substitute teacher was asked to keep control of the class at a school in Milan for a few minutes.

She is alleged to have held a pair of scissors in front of Walid Dhaouadi, a Tunisian, and to have said: "Stick your tongue out so I can cut it. That way you will stop talking."

Although she later claimed it was a "game" and allegedly asked the pupil not to tell his parents, the boy needed five stitches and spent a night in hospital. "The tongue was deeply cut," said an official.

The police said they would delay pressing charges until they could ascertain whether the cut was deliberate, or a joke gone wrong.