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| "I wasn't rough": Lecka |
A nursery worker, accused of physically abusing multiple toddlers at a £1900-a-month Montessori, told a jury today her behaviour did not go beyond “firm handling” of the youngsters.
Roksana Łęcka, 22, was employed at the Riverside Nursery, Twickenham Green, where she is accused of repeatedly pinching, punching and grabbing the youngsters.
After the Kingston-upon-Thames Crown Court jury watched CCTV of her putting her hand to a boy’s mouth she said: “I have a habit of squeezing and playing with lips and that is what I was doing there.”
Wearing a light grey sweatshirt, tight grey leggings and white trainers Polish-born Lecka gave straightforward,
matter-of-fact evidence in response to the many CCTV clips played to the court.
One captured her throwing a little girl onto a mat on the floor of the sleep room, which drew gasps from the public gallery, made up of the kids’ families.
“I firmly placed her on the mat. It was firm,” Lecka replied when her lawyer Arlette Piercy asked if her actions were ‘towards the edge of handling.’
She also diminished the charges of child cruelty she has pleaded guilty to, insisting: “I don’t accept punching, slapping, scratching.”
The prosecution allege the CCTV provides evidence of Lecka “rough handling” the boys and girls, aged eighteen to twenty-four months.
In relation to one boy she denies being cruel to she told the jury: “I’m trying to get him to sit down. I firmly placed him down on the floor.”
She also denied “force feeding” the same boy. “I was trying to feed him and he kept moving his face away. He was a difficult child and putting food on his lips would help, I don’t accept force feeding.”
The trial also watched Lecka seemingly drag him out of a cot by his arms, but she said: “I don’t think it’s rough handling.”
She admitted vaping in the sleep room near a little girl and CCTV shows her roughly shoving the toddler into a cot, say the prosecution.
“I firmly placed her in the cot, I lifted her bum and put her in the cot. It was firm handling.”
The prosecution also say there is evidence of Lecka “pinching” the girl’s stomach, but she denied this, explaining: “I’m cuddling her. I was not pinching her stomach and my hands are facing downwards. I’m just sitting, zoned out.”
Another girl was knocked by the defendant. “I was trying to sit down and nudged her accidentally. I did not see that she was behind me.”
On another occasion the prosecution say she pinched the girl’s face. “I just squeezed, touched her lips. I did not pinch her.”
Lecka was also caught pulling another girl’s hair as she walked behind her in a corridor away from other staff members, say the prosecution.
“I did not pull her hair, I was playing with it, twiddling my fingers through her hair,” said Lecka as she watched the CCTV footage.
Asked why the toddler was in tears at that moment she said: “They are tearful before and after sleep. That is why she is tearful.”
She is accused of tipping another boy into his cot head first, but Lecka told the court: “I lifted up his bum and put him in the cot. I wasn’t rough.”
Regarding another incident with the same boy she said: “I was not force feeding him, I was trying to make him taste it. They will tend to eat it once they taste it.”
She denied pinching another boy as he tottered down the steps of a play area. “I did not pinch him, I was helping him down the stairs. He was quite teary so I sat him down and hugged him.”
Lecka also denied other physical behaviour by her towards the boy was abusive. “I stroked his face and they were playful pokes to the side.”
On another occasion the prosecution say Lecka is caught on CCTV pulling the seated boy’s hair as she walks past. “I didn’t pull his hair. It was ruffle with my fingers,” she claimed
When Ms Piercy asked why the boy was crying in response to her actions Lecka said simply: “Children cry.”
Lecka, of Avro Place, Hounslow has pleaded not guilty to twenty-two counts of child cruelty, but has admitted two identical charges, relating to a boy and a girl.
When asked why she waited until the eve of the trial to admit one of the counts, she said: “The prosecution gave us the enhanced video CCTV on the first day of the trial and that is when I saw.”
Lecka 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.
Regarding one of the counts she has pleaded guilty to Lecka told the trial: “I am just squishing his face and just put my hands up to him.”
She was engaged with the boy near the nursery’s unofficial ‘naughty step’ when recorded on CCTV.
“He clearly wanted to run away and I sat him down and said ’no’. I think it was more firm, not rough as he was trying to get away and I was trying to get a grip.”
The jury watched Lecka interacting with the boy on her last day at work. “I squeezed his cheek and don’t accept it was a pinch. There is no intent behind that movement, it was just a squish to the cheek.”
The prosecution called a paediatrician earlier in the trial, who gave evidence that the many injuries suffered by the children were “non-accidental.”
One count of cruelty Lecka denies allegedly occurred at her previous place of employment - another Montessori in nearly Hounslow, ‘Little Munchkins’.
Another member of staff says she heard the defendant scolding a little girl, shouting: “You’re so annoying,” before inflicting an injury to the toddler’s thigh with a hard pinch.
“I would not use that kind of language,” Lecka told the trial, today, insisting she had no recollection of pinching the child.
Trial continues…………..
