Montessori Nursery Parents Saw Injuries On Children

On Trial: Roksana Lecka

A jury trying a nursery worker for physically abusing toddlers at a £1900-a-month Montessori were told suspicious parents were already taking bath-time snaps of their injured children before the alarm was raised.

Roksana Lecka, 22, was employed at the Riverside Nursery, Twickenham Green, where she is accused of repeatedly pinching, punching and grabbing the youngsters.

She has pleaded not guilty at Kingston-upon-Thames Crown Court to twenty-two counts of child cruelty, but has admitted two identical charges, relating to a boy and a girl.

Lecka, of Avro Place, Hounslow was eventually sent home on June 28, last year after fellow-staff became alarmed by her behaviour and police charged her after analysing months of internal CCTV.

However, concerned parents were already collecting evidence of her abuse, prosecutor Tracy Ayling KC told the jury yesterday.

“Parents had their worries and took photos on other occasions and consultant paediatrician Dr. Stephen Rose has looked at those photos and all of the CCTV.”

The parents of one little girl took photos of her injuries on March 13 and April 22, last year.

“Dr Rose says the pictures of her left side, three pink marks are pressure marks and that accidental bruising to the side of the torso is unusual.”

The parents also took an image of redness behind their daughter’s right ear. “Dr Rose says the discolouration is consistent with bruising and the ear is rarely accidentally bruised and was likely to be a non-accidental injury.

“The Crown says all of these injuries are non-accidental. We suggest that what you see on the CCTV, coupled with the photos means she was abused on earlier occasions and not just what you can see on the CCTV.”

The mother of a young boy to a photo of reddening to the back of his right ear on May 18, said the prosecutor. “Dr Rose says it is consistent with pinching.

“He says the cause of this was non-accidental and the Crown say this is further evidence of the defendant mistreating him longer than what we see on the CCTV.

“There are these earlier injury photos as well.”

The parents of the girl Lecka has admitted inflicting cruelty to were alarmed on both March 6 and May 14 after their daughter returned from the nursery.  

“When giving her a bath in March the parents noticed marks to her hips and left forearm and were told by the nursery there were no concerns and no reported falls noted.

“The parents took photos again on May 14 after seeing marks in the left side of the girl’s body and to her right hip.

“Dr Rose says these are non-accidental injuries, consistent with thumb or fingernail injuries. These bruises are in the opinion of the consultant the result of inflicted injury.

“The marks provide further support that this defendant abused this girl in a wider timeframe than that seen on the CCTV,” Ms Ayling told the jury.

“It shows you what the defendant is capable of and she accepts she is capable of.”

For the first time the jurors were given added details of the one count regarding Lecka’s previous place of employment at another Montessori in nearly Hounslow, Little Munchkins. 

There, on October 19, 2023 a co-worker, Chamilla Seneviratne, was changing a child’s nappy in a side room, when she heard Lecka shout at a little girl: “You are so annoying.”

“She heard the girl screaming and crying,” explained the KC. “She saw a red bump on the girl’s upper thigh, as if she had been pinched and took a photo of what she saw.”

Ms Chamilla Seneviratne said in her statement: “She was running towards me and crying so badly. I saw this big, bumpy red patch on her skin.”

Lecka overheard staff discussing checking the room’s CCTV. “She started panicking and said she was feeling hot and when she heard about the camera she was panicking even more,” said the witness.

Unfortunately a blind spot meant the camera did not capture the incident, but Ms Seneviratne came forward after hearing publicity about the case.

Little Munchkins management were not happy with the witness’s assessment of the incident.

“She was sent for re-training because the management felt her use of the word ‘pinching’ was inappropriate,” explained Ms Ayling.

“The defendant behaviour here is so similar to what happened at Riverside.”

Dressed in a smart black jacket and black shirt Lecka, of Avro Place, Hounslow stared intently at the CCTV footage as the evidence was outlined, without showing any emotion.