A 22-year-old nursery worker, Roksana Lecka, has been found guilty of abusing 21 babies at the Riverside Nursery in Twickenham, Southwest London. The abuse, which occurred over six months, was described by prosecutors as deliberate, sustained, and methodical. Lecka was convicted of 14 counts of child cruelty after investigators uncovered shocking CCTV footage showing her repeatedly assaulting infants in her care.
The footage revealed Lecka committing multiple acts of physical violence, including pinching, scratching, pulling hair, and punching young children. In one particularly distressing incident, she was caught kicking a baby in the face four times. These assaults typically took place when other staff were not looking, highlighting the calculated and covert nature of her behavior. Police launched a full investigation after a report of concerning behavior at the nursery prompted them to review weeks of surveillance footage, which ultimately exposed the extent of the abuse.
Initially, Lecka admitted to two counts of cruelty but denied the majority of charges. During her trial, she attempted to justify some of her actions by citing personal struggles, including fatigue, work-related stress, and cannabis use. However, the jury rejected her defense, siding with the prosecution’s claim that the attacks were intentional and malicious. The court was presented with graphic images of bruises and other injuries suffered by the babies, some of whom were as young as six months old.
Parents were left horrified as the details of the abuse emerged. Many had entrusted Lecka and the nursery with the care of their most vulnerable family members, only to learn that their children had been subjected to repeated harm. The Crown Prosecution Service condemned her actions as a gross betrayal of trust, emphasizing that no parent should ever fear for their child’s safety in a professional childcare setting.
Lecka has been remanded into custody and is awaiting sentencing. The nursery involved has since come under scrutiny, with regulatory bodies expected to investigate how such prolonged abuse went undetected. The case has prompted calls for stricter surveillance and more rigorous staff vetting procedures in childcare environments. For the affected families, the conviction offers a degree of justice, but the emotional scars left by Lecka’s actions are expected to endure well beyond the trial’s conclusion.
