Parents Trusted Her with Their Children. The Camera Caught What No One Wanted to Believe

On Monday, a U.K. court convicted nursery worker Roksana Lecka of abusing 21 babies in her care, following a six-week trial that stunned parents and child welfare advocates alike. 

Hidden camera footage, installed after staff grew suspicious, captured the 22-year-old slapping, shaking and forcefully handling infants — at times covering their mouths or slamming them into furniture, according to BBC.

The footage showed Lecka mistreating babies as young as six months old at Riverside Nursery in Twickenham, according to a release from London’s Metropolitan Police Department. 

“Footage showed Lecka carrying out multiple assaults on the children in her care which included repeatedly punching and grabbing children, dropping babies into their cots and, on one occasion, she delivered several kicks to a young boy to the dace and stepped on his shoulder,” Detective Sergeant Geoff Boyle said, according to The Guardian. 

In some instances, she was seen pinching several children over a dozen times in the course of one day, per a Crown Prosecution Service press release. In other instances, she was seen violently rocking cots while infants laid inside and, in another, force feeding a child until they choked.

Lecka admitted to smoking marijuana before her shifts and, in one instance, was seen vaping feet away from an infant, BBC reported.

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The 22-year-old worked at the nursery between January and June of 2024. According to BBC, a number of parents reported unusual bruising and injuries on their children between March and May of that year.

At least one incident took place at Lecka’s previous job, a nursery called Little Munchkins in Hounslow, where the woman worked in late 2023, BBC reported.

“The sheer scale of her abuse is staggering,” Gemma Burns of the Crown Prosecution Service said in a statement. “Lecka repeatedly showed exceptional cruelty in her appalling treatment of these babies… the CPS put forth compelling evidence that clearly showed her targeting children when colleagues were either out of the room, or had their backs turned.” 

Lecka admitted to seven counts of child cruelty, and was found guilty of an additional 14 counts at Kingston Crown Court. Her sentencing is scheduled for September 26. 

She has been barred from ever working with children again, and the nursery where she worked has come under regulatory review, according to BBC. 

“Situations like this are deeply upsetting and represent a profound breach of trust in a professional,” Riverside Nurseries said in a statement. “We recognise how difficult this has been, in particular for the children and families directly involved… Creating places in which children are happy, safe and able to thrive is our top priority, and we will do everything in our power to protect that.”

If you suspect child abuse, call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child or 1-800-422-4453, or go to www.childhelp.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.