A nursery worker accused of abusing 24 babies left children crying and ‘writhing around’ in pain after repeatedly pinching, punching and grabbing them, a court heard today.
Roksana Lecka, 22, is accused of ‘badly harming’ 23 of the infants, aged 18 months to two years, while she worked at a £1,900-a-month Montessori nursery in Twickenham, west London, between January 31 and June 28 last year.
Lecka, wearing a grey jumper, white collared shirt and black headscarf in the dock, denies 21 counts of child cruelty at the Twickenham Green Montessori nursery, but has admitted two counts of the same offence.
She is charged with a 24th count of child cruelty in October 2023, before she started working at the nursery.
At Kingston Crown Court today, the prosecution opened the trial by showing CCTV of ‘distressed’ children wailing on the floor after they were allegedly assaulted by Lecka and left with ‘scratch’ and ‘pinch’ marks on their bodies.
Members of the public gallery, which included parents of the children, gasped in shock as they were played CCTV of Lecka allegedly harming the infants – including ‘punching’ one sat on her lap – on June 28 last year.
Opening the case against Lecka, prosecutor Tracy Ayling KC told jurors that the defendant started working at the Montessori nursery on January 31 2024 and that there were ‘no apparent safeguarding concerns’.
Lecka was someone who ‘came across as somebody who would work hard and interact well with the children’, she said.
Roksana Lecka (pictured), 22, is accused of ‘badly harming’ 23 of the infants, aged 18 months to two years, while she worked at a £1,900-a-month Montessori nursery in Twickenham, west London , between January 31 and June 28 last year
Lecka denies 21 counts of child cruelty at the Twickenham Green Montessori nursery, but has admitted two counts of the same offence. She is charged with a 24th count of child abuse from before she joined the nursery
Ms Ayling continued: ‘But what transpired on 28th June 2024, gave the staff at Riverside grave cause for concern and the police were informed.
‘On watching CCTV from inside the premises it appeared that on 28th June 2024, Ms Lecka had badly treated a number of the children.’
The trial heard how on that day, Lecka was late for work and seemed ‘slow’, ‘lethargic’ and ‘almost as if she was in a daze’ when she arrived. She was told to go home by the head teacher at 3pm.
But before that, between around 1pm and 2pm, a teaching assistant witnessed two children being harmed by Lecka, jurors heard.
When concerned staff checked all the babies for injuries, they found five children had injuries including ‘scratches’, ‘pinch marks’, ‘red skin’ and ‘raised skin’.
Jurors were told how the teaching assistant reported Lecka’s behaviour to the head teacher on June 28 2024, sparking an urgent probe.
The court was shown CCTV that the head teacher then found, including footage of a child spitting their dummy out and crying after being ‘pinched’.
In another clip, members of the gallery gasped as they were shown footage of Lecka allegedly grabbing a child’s face, leaving him in tears.
Lecka (pictured) was someone who ‘came across as somebody who would work hard and interact well with the children’ when she joined the nursery
The head teacher reported the matter to the Local Authority Designated officer and Ofsted. The police attended the nursery on July 3 and started trawling through the CCTV themselves.
Lecka was arrested on suspicion of child cruelty on July 5. She was shown CCTV of her allegedly assaulting three children on June 28 and confirmed it was her in the footage.
But her prepared statement said: ‘I deny assaulting any children at the Riverside Nursery on the 28th June 2024. I went into work that day and had a normal day. There were no accidents where any child seemed hurt. We have procedures for the handling of the children, which I adhered to. I am unaware how any injury to these children were caused’.
The court heard that when police watched all of the existing CCTV back, which was around a month’s worth, 23 babies had been ‘badly treated in some way by Ms Lecka’. A 24th child was allegedly harmed on October 19 2023.
Jurors were told that most of the alleged incidents took place in the nursery’s ‘baby room’, while some occurred in the ‘baby sleep room’ where the children lie in cots or on baby mats.
Lecka, from Hounslow, was remanded in custody after police investigated concerns about the welfare of children at Twickenham Green Montessori in London (pictured)
The prosecution told the jury that they will be seeing a lot of CCTV throughout the trial.
‘For example, you might see a child cry after they have been on Ms Lecka’s lap, Ms Ayling said.
‘Or they might run away from her. You might see her watching other members of staff as she harms a child, just checking if another members of staff is watching what she is doing. . All these things are for you to decide’
On Thursday, jurors were shown a number of clips from June 28 2024 – a day which they allege five children were left with injuries.
In one clip, prosecutors showed the jury footage which allegedly shows Lecka ‘repeatedly pinching’ a child on her legs, back and under her arm in the baby room.
The child was left in tears as other staff tried to console them, the court heard.
In a second clip, jurors were shown Lecka allegedly pinching another child on his legs.
Prosecutors say the CCTV shows staff comforting the child as they cry and that they later quickly crawled away from Lecka.
In another incident, Lecka is allegedly seen walking out of the baby room but ‘assaults a girl by pinching her to the side of the face then grabbing the back of her head/hair’.
Emotional family members gasped in court, including one who was heard saying ‘Jesus Christ’ when they watched the moment multiple times.
The court was then shown the moment where concerned staff began examining the children for injuries.
Ms Ayling said: ‘As a result of that, she and other members of staff checked all the children for injuries. (Child 9) had scratches to her face, (Child 8) had a pinch mark to her chest, (Child 13) had scratches to her neck, (Child 12) had red marks to his inner legs and (Child 6) also had a small amount of skin that was raised on her stomach.’
On Thursday, the jury began to go through CCTV of the alleged child victims being harmed by Lecka.
Footage was shown of one child allegedly being pinched on the feet, their right leg and chest. In another moment which drew gasps from the gallery, Lecka pulled the child’s hair, which made them strike their head on the table.
Jurors were shown CCTV of another child, this time in the sleep room, allegedly being pinched by Lecka in the leg and thigh.
The defendant is then seen lifting the girl out of a cot and taking her back to the baby room, where she begins ‘pinching’ her.
It is in the baby room where CCTV also shows Lecka allegedly punching the girl in her side. The force of the alleged punch jolts the baby and she is left in tears.
The Montessori nursery where Lecka worked cared for children aged under four with parents paying up to £1,900 a month for childcare.
The prestigious nursery follows the Montessori method of teaching, involving children’s ‘natural interests and activities’ instead of formal practices.
The defendant, who showed no emotion in the dock, is alleged to have ‘wilfully assaulted and or ill-treated’ the 24 victims ‘in a manner likely to cause suffering or injury’.
Lecka, from Hounslow, denies 22 counts of child cruelty.
The trial, expected to last up to five weeks, continues.
