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Trial begins for Danish educator who is suing New York for 48 million kroner in damages

Shifa Rahaman
April 19th, 2016


This article is more than 8 years old.

Malthe Thomsen, who was falsely accused of molesting 13 children in 2014, is back in New York for the hearings

Metroxpress reports that Malthe Thomsen, 24, the Danish educator who is suing New York for 48 million kroner after being falsely accused and then jailed on charges of paedophilia, is now back in Manhattan for the trial.

The first hearing was held on Monday afternoon.

Thomsen, who was accused of molesting 13 children during his internship at a New York City kindergarten two years ago, spent time at Rikers Island, New York City’s main jail complex, before all the charges were dismissed under further review in November 2014.

High compensation
His lawyer, Jane Fisher-Byrialsen, told TV2 that compensation in such cases tends to be reasonably high.

“You get a very reasonable compensation for being [falsely] called a paedophile publicly  – just over a million dollars and often 3-5 million dollars.”

Not about the money
For Thomsen, the issue isn’t so much about the money as it is about bringing about changes to the criminal justice system in the United States – one that he maintains tried to pressure him into confessing to a crime he never committed

“This will do a lot of good: especially for the less fortunate in New York,” he told DR.

“There are many who do not have the resources I was lucky to have.”


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A survey carried out by Megafon for TV2 has found that 71 percent of parents have handed over children to daycare in spite of them being sick.

Moreover, 21 percent of those surveyed admitted to medicating their kids with paracetamol, such as Panodil, before sending them to school.

The FOLA parents’ organisation is shocked by the findings.

“I think it is absolutely crazy. It simply cannot be that a child goes to school sick and plays with lots of other children. Then we are faced with the fact that they will infect the whole institution,” said FOLA chair Signe Nielsen.

Pill pushers
At the Børnehuset daycare institution in Silkeborg a meeting was called where parents were implored not to bring their sick children to school.

At Børnehuset there are fears that parents prefer to pack their kids off with a pill without informing teachers.

“We occasionally have children who that they have had a pill for breakfast,” said headteacher Susanne Bødker. “You might think that it is a Panodil more than a vitamin pill, if it is a child who has just been sick, for example.”

Parents sick and tired
Parents, when confronted, often cite pressure at work as a reason for not being able to stay at home with their children.

Many declare that they simply cannot take another day off, as they are afraid of being fired.

Allan Randrup Thomsen, a professor of virology at KU, has heavily criticised the parents’ actions, describing the current situation as a “vicious circle”.

“It promotes the spread of viruses, and it adds momentum to a cycle where parents are pressured by high levels of sick-leave. If they then choose to send the children to daycare while they are still recovering, they keep the epidemic going in daycares, and this in turn puts a greater burden on the parents.”