As can be seen from the witness material, while a police complaint was pending against the childminder for alleged abuse of a 19-month-old child, Social Welfare Services officials visited her at her home and informed her that she could take care of the children at her home until the application was examined for the issuance of a work permit
In the hands of the lawyers of the Republic, the file with the witness material collected by the investigators of the TAE Nicosia in the context of the investigation of the complaints of abuse of four infants by a home babysitter in Nicosia is being evaluated. The complaints of the parents refer to abuse of their children consisting of physical violence, however, as we were told, it is difficult to substantiate the specific charge against the nanny and much easier that the blows inflicted on the infants in various parts of the body to them it is the result of neglect. Two other offenses are also being considered against the childminder: Illegal work and threats.
The witness material includes statements of parents for four different cases of infants under two years of age. In both cases, the complaints were made much later, months after the incidents, as the parents, for their own reasons, informed the Police but did not want to proceed with a complaint. After the case was made public by "P", following a letter from DIKO MP Mr. Christos Orphanidis to the Ministry of Justice and the Police, and the finding that their children's case is not the only one, the parents in question decided to break their silence and speak to the investigators.
He pleads not guilty
The childminder in her testimony at the TAE of Nicosia denies the allegations of abuse and attributes the children's injuries to an unfortunate coincidence and "bad timing". She also rejects the complaint that she was illegally practicing the profession of childminder – a complaint was filed at a police station on 16/10/2023 – claiming that she was in contact with the competent officials of the Social Welfare Services to secure the required license. It should be noted that the current legislation allows the exercise of the profession of home childminder for as long as the examination of the application for the granting of a license to exercise the profession lasts. After the case was revealed, the Deputy Minister of Social Welfare gave instructions not to apply the relevant provision of the law.
As confirmed by the evaluation of the witness material, while a complaint was pending against the childminder to be investigated by the Police for allegedly abusing a 19-month-old child, officials of the Social Welfare Services visited her at her home and even informed her that she could look after her home children until her application for a license to practice the profession of home childminder is examined!
The testimonial material
Specifically, the following complaints were investigated against the childcare worker:
Complaint about a 12-month-old infant. Chronologically, the first complaint was filed in early January 2022. At the time in question, the victim was only 12 months old. As the parents testified to the Police, on different occasions, they found redness on their child's body, scratches on the shoulder and, in one case, blood on the nose. The childminder in her testimony claimed that the child fell from the chair and hit. The parents informed the Police about this without giving a statement, expecting that their complaint would be investigated ex officio. Something, of course, that didn't happen. Following the "P" reports, the child's parents gave a statement to investigators around the end of 2023.
The amazing thing is that almost two years after they took their child and left the childcare, the child's parents received a threatening phone call from her. Specifically, the recipient of the phone threats was the child's father. The nanny called him in a rage, cursing him and accusing him of reporting her to the Police.
Complaint about a seven-month-old infant. According to the report, not a complaint, entered in the Police complaints and incidents log, on 3/6/2022 at around 08:05, a mother left her seven-month-old daughter at the childminder's home. Later that same day, namely at 14:10, she returned to collect the child and found that the child had a slight tan on the upper lip, left eyelid and right chin. When asked by the mother how the bruises were caused, the pediatrician replied that the child slept with the pacifier in his mouth and the bruises were caused as he tossed and turned during sleep. The mother requested that the incident be recorded by the Police as information and not as a complaint. Therefore, for the police station, the case was considered closed. The case was opened recently after the publications of "P", where the mother was summoned and finally gave a statement.
Complaint about a 19-month-old infant. She was presented to the Police on 1/10/2022 at around 15:40 by a foreigner, who came to the police station with her minor child, aged 19 months, accompanied by the Social Welfare Services officer on duty. At the police station, the officer in question reported that based on the information she had from her colleague, the foreign mother went on 9/29/2022 to the childminder's home to pick up her child and found that the child had redness on the head and left cheek and lip smacking. On the same day, i.e. on 29/9/2022, the mother went to the First Aid of the Nicosia General Hospital, where her child was examined by the doctor on duty and was referred to Makarios Hospital for examinations and was discharged on 1/10/2022 . The mother demanded an investigation into the incident, believing that the blows to her child were malicious. On the other hand, the childminder claims that the child fell from his highchair while he was eating.
Complaint about a six-month-old infant. On 14/10/2023, an employee of the Social Welfare Services contacted the Family Violence Unit of the Nicosia Police Department informing them that the pediatrician on duty at the Makarios Hospital informed that on 12/10/2023 in the evening, a six-month-old infant was transported by ambulance from the Nicosia General Hospital, who was found to have a fracture and hematoma on the head in a radiological examination.
According to the parents, the incident took place on 12/10/2023 between the hours of 7:00-15:00 while the infant was in the care of the childminder, who at 15:00 on the same day notified them parents that the infant vomited.