Polish worker, 22, at £1,900-a-month Montessori nursery is found GUILTY of attacking 21 toddlers in her care
A worker at a £1,900-a-month Montessori nursery has today been found guilty of assaulting 21 toddlers.
Roksana Lecka, 22, has been convicted of 'badly harming' 21 infants at the Riverside Nursery in Twickenham, south-west London, last year.
She admitted seven counts of child cruelty, including kicking a boy in the face and punching a girl in the side, justifying this behaviour by claiming she was sleep deprived from smoking cannabis all night with her boyfriend.
Lecka denied 17 other similar charges but a jury at Kingston Crown Court unanimously found her guilty today.
Parents wept in the public gallery as the verdicts were read out, while Lecka was also tearful as she was led away to the cells.
One child was repeatedly kicked in the face by Lecka who even punched a baby after dragging her out of a cot.
Concerned parents first began photographing and reporting unexplained injuries on their children's tiny bodies as early as March last year.
They watched in horror in court as jurors were shown some of Lecka's sadistic attacks, including CCTV footage of her kicking the boy repeatedly in the face.
Staff noticed the children had been scratched and bruised and Lecka was suspended on June 28, 2024.
The 22-year-old told her trial she was 'addicted' to vaping and would be 'moody' if she wasn't able to puff on the device during work
After watching hours of CCTV and reviewing evidence compiled by parents, Lecka was charged with 24 counts of child cruelty.
She admitted seven of the charges against her but denied a further 17.
Today after nine hours and 53 minutes, jurors convicted her of 14 of the remaining 17 child cruelty counts and acquitted her of three.
She was remanded in custody and will be sentenced at Kingston Crown Court on September 26.
Judge Sarah Plaschkes KC exempted the jury from future service for the next 10 years.
There were gasps from jurors and weeping parents in the public gallery as horrifying footage of Lecka's attacks on toddlers, who were left writhing in agony, was shown during her trial.
They saw horrifying CCTV footage of Lecka kicking a boy in the face four times before stepping on his shoulder. The trainers she was wearing later seized by police.
In further footage played to the court, Lecka can also be seen pinching the legs, back and underarm of a young girl who is crying from the pain.
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.
Lecka was 'looking around' at other members of staff to see who was 'watching these assaults occur', the court heard.
But the 22-year-old, who moved to Britain from Katowice in southern Poland when she was three, explained away each sickening act of violence with a chilling nonchalance.
She had told the jury: 'I can't remember the things I was doing because I was smoking cannabis that was affecting my memory.'
Giving evidence in a smart black suit jacket over a black top, her blonde hair tied back in a neat ponytail, she claimed that an alleged pinch to a boy's stomach was simply a tender hug.
A rough yank on a boy's hair was a 'ruffle with my fingers.'
A series of violent jabs to another toddler's stomach that left his abdomen black and blue were just 'playful pokes to the side,' she insisted.
A baby Lecka smacked twice around the face while puffing on her vape was actually only crying because 'she was distressed having just woken up from a nap.'
And a sickening moment when she threw a girl onto a mat had merely been some 'rough handling,' she declared.
The former beauty worker changed several pleas to guilty just before her trial begun, having been shown enhanced CCTV that irrefutably illustrated her crimes.
She desperately sought to rationalise her behaviour with a series of pathetic excuses, including that she would get 'moody' if she could not smoke her vape at work, did not have enough sleep, was still feeling the effects of cannabis smoked the night before and had been suffering from period cramps.
At that time I was really addicted to vapes, I would smoke two little crystal disposables a day,' she told the court.
'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.'
In the week of her suspension, Lecka claimed she had been 'over-prioritising' her boyfriend. 'I was with my boyfriend every night. I was addicted to him,' she said.
In her prepared statement, Lecka denied assaulting any children at the Riverside Nursery.
When asked in court if it was a lie, she 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.'
Prosecutor Tracy Ayling told jurors that smoking cannabis and not being able to vape were 'excuses'.
She added: 'It is clear her actions are deliberate or at the very least careless, but on most occasions we say deliberate.
'There are, of course, some clips where Ms Lecka - as we put it - keeps going back for more.'
Her own evidence was damning of the chaotic environment at Riverside Nursery, part of a prestigious group of educational institutions run by Dukes Education.
Lecka admitted she hadn't bothered to complete her online safeguarding modules, and staff turnover was so high that workers were constantly training others while on the job.
She said she would frequently take toilet breaks to smoke a vape she kept in her bra, which she was seen on CCTV smoking next to children, and would take cannabis with her boyfriend – sometimes before work.
Despite this she was praised by management as a model employee and recalled: 'They had experience with people my age or younger who wouldn't stick to the job or do it properly but [head teacher] Noor one day called me into her office and said I was doing really well, she's really proud of me.
'She had even bought me pink roses.
'She said if I continued to do so well she would sort it for me to do Level 3 childcare courses if it was something I wanted.'
That she was held in such high esteem goes some way to explain why staff were for so long unable to link her to the horrific injuries suffered by children in their care – injuries that for months were explained away to parents as innocuous accidents.
As consultant paediatrician Dr Stephen Rose told the trial, they should have recognised that wounds including bruised earlobes, torsos and thighs must have been caused deliberately.
'Ears do not get injured or bruised accidentally…if it is a bruise it was caused non-accidentally or deliberately inflicted,' he said.
'The side of the torso is relatively protected by the arm, so it is not an area that is bruised accidentally.'
Dr Rose added that marks on a child's thigh had likely been caused on purpose because toddlers who fall backwards land on their bottoms, not their thighs.
Lecka, who has two younger siblings, was supported throughout the trial by her mother.
The Polish national, who studied beauty at Kingston College and worked as a babysitter, barmaid and at a laser removal clinic before getting her job at the nursery, will be sentenced at a later date.
A spokesman from Riverside Nurseries said: 'This has been a distressing case, particularly for the children and families directly affected. Our thoughts are first and foremost with those families.
'Following concerns raised by Riverside Nursery staff, the individual was suspended and ultimately charged with offences against a number of children at the Nursery. Although Roksana Lecka was not convicted on all charges, today's verdict confirms the seriousness of those concerns.
'Situations like this are deeply upsetting and represent a profound breach of trust in a professional. We recognise how difficult this has been, in particular for the children and families directly involved.
'Creating places in which children are happy, safe and able to thrive is our top priority, and we will do everything in our power to protect that.'
Gemma Burns, of the Crown Prosecution Service, said: 'Lecka repeatedly showed exceptional cruelty in her appalling treatment of these babies.
'No parent should have to fear leaving their child in the care of professionals, but the sheer scale of her abuse is staggering.
'The CPS put forward compelling evidence that clearly showed her targeting children when colleagues were either out of the room, or had their backs turned.
'We also called on experts to prove that the injuries Lecka's victims sustained were consistent with pinch marks.
'Lecka was placed in a position of trust and her job required her to provide safety and protection. Instead, she kicked, scratched, and pinched these young children, with this vile abuse of vulnerable victims continuing for many months.'
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