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A creche worker has pleaded guilty to assaulting and ill-treating a two-year-old child in her care.
At Gort District Court, the 29-year-old south Galway woman pleaded guilty to the charge of mishandling of a child and ill-treating the child at a premises in south Galway on June 21, 2019.
As part of the single charge, the woman has also pleaded guilty to wilfully assaulting or ill-treating a child in a manner likely to cause unnecessary injury to the child’s health contrary to Section 246 of the Children’s Act.
Sgt Daithi Cronin told Judge Patrick Durcan that the parents of the two-year-old child being cared at a creche contacted the creche after viewing some bruising on their child’s arm.
Sgt Cronin said that as a result of the report, the part-owner of the creche made a referral to Tusla, the Child and Family Agency (CFA), concerning the allegation, which she is obliged to do.
The sergeant stated that the co-owner of the creche viewed the CCTV footage, which operates throughout her premises, and had noted that “one of her staff had become extremely aggressive towards the child that she was caring for when she was putting the child down to sleep”.
Sgt Cronin said that the co-owner witnessed during the course of a number of minutes of footage the rough treatment and the mishandling of the young child.
Sgt Cronin stated that the accused presented herself voluntarily on September 1, 2019, with a view to being interviewed on the allegation by gardaí.
He said that the accused made a lengthy interview with the gardaí.
Sgt Cronin also said that a Tusla report on the incident was available to the court.
Judge Patrick Durcan adjourned the case to October 22 for sentence and ordered that all files relating to the case be lodged in court by October 6.
Judge Durcan also stated that the parents be asked if they wish to make a victim impact statement in terms of the impact the incident had on their child.
Judge Durcan said that existing reporting restrictions in the case are to continue.
