Janet
12-11-2008, 08:36 AM
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/child-worker-threatened-to-cut-off-boys-hands/2008/11/12/1226318688918.html
Child worker threatened to cut off boy's hands
A former ABC Learning child-care centre worker has been found guilty of assaulting a three-year-old boy in her care by threatening to cut off his hands with a pair of scissors.
The ACT Magistrates Court heard yesterday the incident went unreported for five months because the inexperienced staff at the inner-north centre did not know they had an obligation to alert authorities.
Mona Duah pleaded not guilty to common assault against the boy, but was found to have committed the crime at the Braddon ABC Learning Centre, where she was a team leader, in November 2007.
The court heard from two of Duah's colleagues in the centre's Moon Room where the three women looked after 16 children aged between two and three.
One of Duah's co-workers, Tracey Vagg, said that one day in November 2007 two little boys had been sent to "time-out" beside the room's sink after they misbehaved.
Ms Vagg told the court Duah approached the three-year-olds and grabbed a 30cm pair of "adult scissors" from a shelf above the sink and waved it in the face of one of the boys.
"She then threatened to cut their hands off," Ms Vagg said.
According to the witness, Duah then opened the blades of the scissors and closed them around the boy's wrist while the hysterical child cried and begged for his hands not to be cut off.
Ms Vagg said the incident ended when a parent of one of the children in the centre walked into the room and Duah put the scissors down, although Magistrate Beth Campbell accepted yesterday the team leader was unlikely to have carried out the threat.
The other witness was the third member of the Moon Room team, Grace Johnson, who reported the incident to an ABC area manager in March after discussing it with a relative who was a school teacher.
Ms Johnson and Ms Vagg said they were not trained by the child-care centre in their mandatory reporting responsibilities.
The investigating police officer, Constable William Freeman, said the reporting system at the Torrens Street centre was inadequate.
"I don't think that the reporting procedures are as detailed as they could be," Constable Freeman said.
"I don't think there was a procedure in place to deal with an incident like this and if there was it wasn't detailed enough."
Ms Campbell also expressed concerns about the reporting regime at the centre.
"The inference that I've drawn from the evidence was that the staff were not well trained or sufficiently well versed on what should be done in the event of such an incident," the magistrate said.
Duah, who had no criminal record and maintained yesterday the incident never happened, was convicted of common assault and placed on a good-behaviour bond for one year.
Child worker threatened to cut off boy's hands
A former ABC Learning child-care centre worker has been found guilty of assaulting a three-year-old boy in her care by threatening to cut off his hands with a pair of scissors.
The ACT Magistrates Court heard yesterday the incident went unreported for five months because the inexperienced staff at the inner-north centre did not know they had an obligation to alert authorities.
Mona Duah pleaded not guilty to common assault against the boy, but was found to have committed the crime at the Braddon ABC Learning Centre, where she was a team leader, in November 2007.
The court heard from two of Duah's colleagues in the centre's Moon Room where the three women looked after 16 children aged between two and three.
One of Duah's co-workers, Tracey Vagg, said that one day in November 2007 two little boys had been sent to "time-out" beside the room's sink after they misbehaved.
Ms Vagg told the court Duah approached the three-year-olds and grabbed a 30cm pair of "adult scissors" from a shelf above the sink and waved it in the face of one of the boys.
"She then threatened to cut their hands off," Ms Vagg said.
According to the witness, Duah then opened the blades of the scissors and closed them around the boy's wrist while the hysterical child cried and begged for his hands not to be cut off.
Ms Vagg said the incident ended when a parent of one of the children in the centre walked into the room and Duah put the scissors down, although Magistrate Beth Campbell accepted yesterday the team leader was unlikely to have carried out the threat.
The other witness was the third member of the Moon Room team, Grace Johnson, who reported the incident to an ABC area manager in March after discussing it with a relative who was a school teacher.
Ms Johnson and Ms Vagg said they were not trained by the child-care centre in their mandatory reporting responsibilities.
The investigating police officer, Constable William Freeman, said the reporting system at the Torrens Street centre was inadequate.
"I don't think that the reporting procedures are as detailed as they could be," Constable Freeman said.
"I don't think there was a procedure in place to deal with an incident like this and if there was it wasn't detailed enough."
Ms Campbell also expressed concerns about the reporting regime at the centre.
"The inference that I've drawn from the evidence was that the staff were not well trained or sufficiently well versed on what should be done in the event of such an incident," the magistrate said.
Duah, who had no criminal record and maintained yesterday the incident never happened, was convicted of common assault and placed on a good-behaviour bond for one year.