Carletonville creche caregiver gets 5 years in prison

A 40-year-old caregiver who assaulted minor children at a creche in Carletonville, south of Gauteng, was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment in the Oberholzer Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday.

This comes after the former employee of Ninnies Neuron’s Nursery School was convicted of assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm (GBH) and two counts of common assault of three minor children in July.

“Between 23 April and 31 May 2018, [she] assaulted three minor children aged between eleven months and four years. At the time of the incident, [she] was employed at Ninnies Neuron’s Nursery School as a nursery school teacher and a cleaner.

“The incident was caught in a video footage and [she] was arrested on 27 March 2019 after the circulation of the clip,” North Gauteng NPA spokesperson, Lumka Mahanjana said in a statement on Tuesday.

Anti-abuse group, Women and Men against Child Abuse (WMACA) previously called for a 10-year sentence for the former employee of the Carletonville creche.

Advocacy manager, Ngaa Murombedzi, said that WMACA was disappointed because the 10-year sentence it called for was not out of the ordinary.

“It is the minimum prescribed sentence as per the Criminal Procedure Act. We find that the five year sentence minimises the life long trauma and emotional, psychological impact that the abuse will have on the children.

“We are, however, satisfied that with the five years, it is a custodial sentence instead of a suspended sentence,” she said.

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