Nursery worker ‘punched and kicked' children while high on marijuana
A nursery worker punched and kicked 21 children while high on marijuana.
Roksana Lecka, 22, attacked the children at the £1,900-a-month Montessori Riverside Nursery on Twickenham Green, south-west London.
One child was repeatedly kicked in the face by Lecka, and CCTV footage showed her punching a baby after dragging her out of a cot.
Staff and parents noticed children had been scratched and bruised and Lecka was suspended on June 28 2024.
Lecka was charged with 24 counts of child cruelty at Kingston Crown Court, after detectives watched hours of CCTV, which was also shown to jurors in court.
Parents had been compiling evidence of the abuse of their children for months leading up to her being charged, the court heard.
Lecka admitted seven of the charges against her but denied a further 17.
On Monday, jurors convicted her of 14 of the remaining 17 child cruelty counts and acquitted her of three.
Parents in the public gallery wept as the verdicts were read out. Lecka was also tearful as she was led back to the cells.
She had told the jury: 'I can't remember the things I was doing because I was smoking cannabis that was affecting my memory.'
Lecka said she was also 'addicted' to her vape and her boyfriend, and had been staying with him throughout the week before her suspension.
She said: 'At that time I was really addicted to vapes, I would smoke two little crystal disposables a day.
'I was vaping in nursery. Because if I did not smoke I would get agitated and fed up.
'I couldn't keep asking to go to the toilet. Any opportunity I would take. I would be really moody and fed up.
'It would be a couple of puffs and then I'd put it away. I would put it in my bra.'
Jurors watched CCTV footage of Lecka kicking a boy in the face; the trainers she was wearing in that case were later seized by police. She admitted that charge.
He was kicked four times in the face before she stepped on his shoulder and she then kicked him in the face again.
Several family members of the victims were in the public gallery and audible gasps could be heard as the footage was played.
In further footage played to the court, Lecka could also be seen pinching the legs, back and underarm of a girl who can be seen crying.
There were also clips of her pinching the side of a girl's face and grabbing her hair.
She is seen vaping in another clip before grabbing a baby out of a crib and pinching and punching the baby.
It was said that Lecka was 'looking around' at other members of staff to see who was 'watching these assaults occur'.
In her prepared statement, Lecka said: 'I deny assaulting any children at the Riverside Nursery.'
Asked in court if it was a lie Lecka said: 'I was not lying because I was unaware of what I was doing and the things I was doing. I can't remember the things I was doing because I was smoking cannabis that was affecting my memory.'
She added: 'The amount of cannabis I was smoking was still affecting me, in that period of time, it affected my memory.'
Lecka was remanded in custody and will be sentenced at Kingston Crown Court at a later date.
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