Prosecutor Eriselda Bala has again recommended dismissing the case against Director of Kindergarten No1, Nashi Shehapi over allegations of assaulting and abusing a three year old boy in her care.
In documents seen by Exit, Bala concludes that whilst the boy has been beaten, she doesn’t know by whom but is sure it was not Shehapi.
Now, allegations have surfaced that Shehapi engaged the services of “fixer” and private investigator Marin Hoxhaj to ensure that the case was never opened in court. This would support her stance from the beginning where she has publicly stated that the case will never end up at trial.
A member of staff from Kindergarten No1 told Exit that Hoxhaj had been hired by Shehapi but she refused to go to the police with the information stating “I have debts, she will make me out of the job if I do this”.
Exit previously heard a voice recording where members of staff at the Kindergarten could be heard discussing the case, saying that “everyone knows what she has done” and that “she has given money to the prosecution”. The father of the child was approached by the husband of one of Shehapi’s colleagues and asked to drop the case against her, he refused.
The staff members can be heard saying how they are scared to denounce her actions as they have been threatened by her and also as she is being protected politically by the Socialist Party, they fear repercussions such as losing their jobs. Parents were allegedly also threatened with losing their child’s place at the school, if they said anything against Nashi.
They also reiterated what was already known- that individuals such as Zhaneta Beqiri and Klotilda Ferhati were protecting Shehapi. She was then pictured on the electoral campaign trail with them in May.
Zhaneta Beqiri and Klotilda Ferhati both deny protecting Kindgerarten Director Nashi Shehapi from being prosecuted for allegations of child abuse, yet here they are on the socialist party campaign trail just yesterday #albania #tirana pic.twitter.com/AQAuoddOF3
— Alice Taylor (@The_Balkanista) May 14, 2019
Bala had previously asked the court to dismiss the allegations against Shehapi, saying there was no evidence. The court found that there were gaping holes in her investigation and ordered her to conduct a more thorough job.
Issues with the evidence included the fact that the child was interviewed by psychologists for around three hours during which time he repeatedly implicated Nashi as having hit him and locked him under the stairs. Yet, the psychologists report is just three lines long and does not reflect what the child said.
Additionally, character references are included for Nashi, written by a government employee, a parent whose child is not even at the school, and the night guard who only works in the evening.
Prosecutor Bala who has been uncooperative and obstructive with the child’s parents every step of the way, instead of being helpful, now again says there is no evidence to suggest Shehapi committed the crime. She claims that Nashi was not at the school that day, yet provides no evidence to substantiate this as she is required to do.
Shehapi has also claimed that she gave economic help to the child’s mother, along with a priest and has suggested that she cannot be guilty as this act proves she cares for the child. The child’s mother has categorically refuted such a claim, stating that at no time has Shehapi or a priest linked to Shehapi given any kind of economic assistance to her, or her child.
A lawyer involved in the case said he had “never seen a prosecutor try to protect an accused as much as in this case”. It is also notable that Shehapi has not appeared in court with a lawyer, a strange move considering the charges she could face.
As a Sociallist Party vote collector, with a daughter working at the Bashkia, who has been pictured campaigning along people who claim to not know her, it is clear that something is amiss.
This combined with the recent allegations from a colleague who claims she engaged the services of Marin Hoxhaj to “fix” the problem for her, provides more suspicion that pressure is being applied to dismiss a case of repeated violence against a three year old child.
The child who is now almost five years old, still insists Nashi assaulted him and he becomes visibly distressed and scared at the mention of her name.
The parents lawyer will appeal.
