An alleged schoolgirl rape victim has been expelled from a Roman Catholic school in France because she had broken a curfew at the time of the attack.
It is claimed that the 15-year-old broke a night-time curfew to go drinking with classmates while on a school trip to Berlin.
When she got back to the hostel where the school party was staying, she is said to have carried on drinking vodka with a group of Polish men, one of whom raped her.
The allegation was reported to teachers two days later, and a report was made to German police, who are still investigating.
But senior teachers at Notre-Dame de la Providence, a private school in Thionville, in eastern France, decided to expel the girl.
Headteacher Francoise Lallier said she had been expelled with other girls 'for not respecting the curfew and for landing themselves in the room of four adult men, and for consuming alcohol'.
And Herve Renoux, the school's lawyer, also claimed the girls were at fault, saying 'there was an excessive consumption of alcohol which led to inappropriate conduct'.
However, treatment of the teenager has caused outrage, with her lawyer saying she should not be made to 'feel guilty' for being the victim of a sexual assault.
One of the girl's parents told the Est Republicain newspaper: "Our daughter should be punished, but not like this."
The parent questioned the school's supervision asking what they did 'to prevent something like this happening?'
The girl's lawyer, Frederic Richard-Maupillier, has meanwhile insisted that the school is directly responsible for not adequately caring for a 15-year-old girl. He said that the girl was effectively being told that 'what happened to them was their fault' and that she was 'receiving a very harsh punishment' for it.
"She is a rape victim. She cannot be allowed to develop feelings of guilt," added Mr Richard-Maupillier.
The schoolgirl is said to be 'deeply traumatised' and receiving psychological counselling.