Concerned parents at a Montessori nursery, costing £1900-a-month, revealed that they had already started taking photos of their children’s injuries during bath time prior to discovering alleged physical abuse by a staff member, a court was told today.
The accused, 22-year-old Roksana Łęcka, worked at Riverside Nursery in Twickenham Green and is facing charges of mistreating children by reportedly pinching, punching, and grabbing them.
While maintaining her plea of not guilty to 22 counts of child cruelty, Łęcka has admitted to two similar charges involving a boy and a girl at Kingston-upon-Thames Crown Court.
Lecka, of 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.
‘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.
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 west London , between January 31 and June 28 last year
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 court has heard
‘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 took 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.’
Lecka has pleaded not guilty at Kingston-upon-Thames Crown Court to 22 counts of child cruelty
Lecka, from Hounslow, was remanded in custody after police investigated concerns about the welfare of children at the Riverside Nursery in Twickenham Green (pictured)
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, black shirt and black headscarf Lecka, of Hounslow, stared intently at the CCTV footage as the evidence was outlined, without showing any emotion.
The trial continues.
