Créche worker who ‘upended and forced’ toddler into floor in ‘serious’ assault is jailed

Thu, 09 Oct, 2025 – 18:16

A creche worker who pushed the face of a 19-month-old toddler into a brick with force in the act of throwing him to the ground has been sentenced to 21 months in prison.

Alexandre Pallares, 27, of Maynooth Road, Celbridge, Co Kildare, pleaded guilty at a sitting of Naas Circuit Criminal Court to a charge of assault causing harm to the baby boy, contrary to Section 3 of the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Act.

The Spanish national was also accused of a charge of child cruelty, contrary to Section 246 of the Children Act 2001, in relation to the same incident at the Giraffe creche where he worked on October 22nd, 2024.

The court heard Pallares grabbed and threw the toddler to the ground after he became frustrated at toys and boxes being strewn around the floor of a playroom.

The child suffered bruising to his forehead and cheek, which showed scarring from indentation with bricks.

Detective Garda Padraig Murphy said the toddler’s mother had received a call at 11:36am on the day from the creche to inform her that her son had injured himself after losing his balance and falling on some Duplo bricks.

He said the boy’s mother was told there was no need to get a doctor, as her son was in good form, and to pick him up whenever she was able to.

Det Garda Murphy said both the toddler’s parents collected their son from the creche at 1:50pm where they were told by a manager that “these things happen” as kids were “at that stage.”

The manager said that Pallares had said he was sorry for the incident and that it was his fault.

The court heard that the boy’s parents received another call from Giraffe two days later to inform them that, following a review of CCTV footage, their son had actually been assaulted.

Det Garda Murphy said the creche manager had looked at the footage because she was concerned about a lack of supervision, as she suspected Pallares had been on his mobile phone.

He told counsel for the DPP, Daniel Boland BL, that Pallares had not reported the incident to his manager for a number of hours and had falsely claimed that he helped the crying child by bringing him to a kitchen to place an icepack on his forehead.

Following his arrest, Det Garda Murphy said the accused claimed he had got nervous about what had happened and “misspoke some words” due to translation issues.

The court heard that Pallares, who has qualifications in childcare from Spain, had been working in the creche since June 2024 after having previously worked there for a 12-month period around 2021.

He told gardaí that he did not believe he had used a lot of force with the child, but referred to the fact that he had some problems at the time with his family in Spain and had trouble sleeping.

Asked why he had lied about the incident, Pallares said because he thought the toddler “was OK”, but acknowledged he would be “disappointed” if the same thing had happened to his own son.

Det Garda Murphy also remarked how the accused had shown “no emotion and no empathy” during an interview with gardaí.

Pleading for the defendant to be given a fully suspended sentence, counsel for Pallares, Damien Colgan SC, said he had no previous convictions and had entered an early guilty plea.