Probation requested for two former employees of a People and Baby nursery, tried for violence against children

Two former employees of a People and Baby daycare are being tried for violence against children (illustration photo). debbalba – ENVATO ELEMENTS

Six and twelve months of suspended prison sentences were requested this Monday, September 23, 2024 against two former employees of a People and Baby daycare tried in Lille for violence against children, after a closed hearing, in the midst of a media debate on the dysfunctions of certain private daycares.

The trial took place in the wake of the release of the book “Les Ogres”by Victor Castanet, an investigation which denounces the "low cost" model of several groups of private daycare centers, in particular People&Baby. The decision is reserved for October 7.

Faced with a packed courtroom at the start of the hearing, the defense lawyers had requested an adjournment, denouncing a "media steamroller".

The court decided to continue the debates, considering that it is "time to judge this case", while granting a closed session at the request of the parties civil.

“Today was not the trial of People&Baby", insisted Me Fatima En-Nih, lawyer of a former employee, a nurse, at the end of the hearing: “There was no question of making these two the fuses of an entire system that was denounced”.

Prosecuted for willful violence

“What was pointed out was the lack of training, perhaps fatigue”, reported Me Florent Mereau, lawyer for the civil parties.

The defendants are being prosecuted for willful violence, physical and psychological, without incapacity, against nine children in total in the nursery located in Villeneuve-d'Ascq, in the suburbs of Lille. The civil parties describe deprivation of meals, humiliation, isolation and some suspect physical abuse.

The defendants “contest the facts they are accused of”, hammered Me Blandine Lejeune. “They are devastated”.

“These are children who did not just come home from daycare with a bruise that disappears in a few days”, Me Alexandre Schmitzberger had stressed before the hearing, highlighting the expectations of families, five years after the events. “We have children who develop psychomotor disorders, behavioral disorders, who end up with developmental delays (…) sometimes of two years”.

The prosecution has requested a six-month suspended prison sentence for the former nursery director, 48, prosecuted for violence against three children, who appeared with a contrite face and a black jacket over her shoulders. A 12-month suspended prison sentence was requested for the 35-year-old former nurse, with her hair tied in a red braid, accused of violence against eight children.

The prosecution also asked the Lille court to order a five-year ban from practicing for the two defendants.

"Dysfunctions"

The two women are suspected of having adopted "attitudes and gestures unsuitable for caring for a young child", recalled the court Monday.

Me En-Nih widely castigated the investigative book by journalist Victor Castanet, who devotes several chapters to the Villeneuve-d'Ascq nursery. "For the past few days, all our energy has been focused on avoiding the press", she hammered home.

The journalist went to court, assuring that he would support the families. “This trial is obviously emblematic because it tells the story of the dysfunctions of this group and more broadly of a certain number of groups in this sector”, he said in front of the many cameras present.

Consequelae denounced

“There is no question here of revenge, stoning or media recovery”, nevertheless stressed Me Patrick Lambert. He represents a family with two children who denounce "psychological abuse, isolation, poor nutrition" but also suspicions of physical violence, a child having "been found with a bump on her forehead".

"Today, my child is eight years old and has psychological problems", also explained a parent who has joined the civil action and accuses the nursing assistant having locked his child in the dark. According to him, the after-effects are multiple: aggressiveness, difficulties at school, fear of the dark, anxiety.

Under pressure, the nursery sector has been facing for several years a critical shortage of professionals and dysfunctions attributed to a complex method of financing with effects deemed "perverse".