Two Welwyn Garden City nurses have been given suspended jail terms
for child cruelty. The two nursery nurses were convicted of repeatedly
pulling down the trousers of a two year old boy in their care.
The toddler, whose identity can not be revealed for legal reasons, was
dragged around the nursery floor by his legs by one of the nursery
staff. The nurse also incited other children to poke him and take his
shoes. The two nurses, Lisa Wymer, 22, of Borehamwood, and Rebecca
Robbins, 21, of Codicote in Hitchin, were captured on CCTV mistreating
the child. In the CCTV footage, the boy's distress is apparent as he
holds his head and rubs his eyes, while Wymer and Robbins appear to be
laughing and joking. It also showed the little boy being poked by seven
other children, some of whom seemed to look to Wymer for approval. The
footage then captured Wymer dragging the boy by his legs into another
room, and then nudging him in the ribs with her foot, pulling his shoes
off and starting to pull his trousers down, while he lay on the carpet.
Robbins was then filmed approaching the scene and pulling his trousers
down about two inches to reveal his pants and the top of his legs.
Both nurses were terminated from their jobs after the incident which
happened in December of last year.
Wymer and Robbins were convicted of cruelty to a person under 16 at St.
Albans Crown Court in Hertfordshire on October 1. They were sentenced at
the same court where they both received 16 week prison terms suspended
for 12 months. They were also given six month supervision orders and are
required to do 100 hours of unpaid work.
Detective Constable Liz Carey of Hertfordshire Police's child abuse
investigation unit said, "I hope that today's sentencing will help the
little boy's family put this incident behind them and move on. The
family is very happy with the service delivered by the nursery and the
support they have received throughout the investigation."
They both denied the accusation of willfully mistreating the child in a
manner likely to cause him unnecessary suffering or injury to health.
Lawyers for the two defendants said the child had not been in distress
and claimed that the court witnesses had exaggerated their description
of the incident or misinterpreted what they saw.