Nanny in dock for attempted murder after mishandling baby

19 September 2017 - 14:19 By Jan Bornman
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Image: Gallo Images/Thinkstock

A young mother says she feels betrayed after seeing video footage of her nanny throwing her nine-month-old daughter face down into a cot and roughly carrying her around by the arm and leg.

"It is the worst thing a mother can go through. It is the worst thing parents can go through. I don't wish it on my worst enemies‚" she told TimesLIVE.

The family‚ who is not being named for legal reasons‚ used an app to set up camera monitoring.

After catching their nanny assaulting their daughter‚ they laid complaints at the police and social welfare offices.

The nanny was arrested and was charged with attempted murder last week‚ the mother said. She was expected to appear in court again in October.

The mother said she became suspicious after returning home from work one day to find her infant daughter with bruises.

"I can't remember the date. It was somewhere at the end of July and I noticed marks on the balls of her feet. They were really red and sore‚" she said.

She described herself as a "trusting" and "non-sceptical" person who was probably a little "naïve" to believe that their nanny would do something like that.

But after the initial incident‚ she came home one day to find bruises on her baby's neck and shoulders. She was told she fell out of her walking ring.

"I was very upset about it and that's where my gut told me something was wrong… I came home and she kind of jokingly said (our baby) fell out of the walking ring. But she had a graze and red mark above her eye and her eyes were red from the crying‚" the mother said.

"In hindsight‚ I know for sure my little girl didn't fall out of her walking ring‚" she said.

In a video the family captured after installing an app on their laptop‚ the nanny is seen dropping the baby on her face into the cot‚ and then removing her again‚ while holding her by the leg.

"I was absolutely gutted when I saw that video. I actually got so sick. It was terrible‚" the mom said.

"I felt heartbreak for my little baba. This is someone we employed to look after our child and she broke our trust‚" she said.

Ian Cameron‚ head of Afriforum's community safety‚ who has seen the footage‚ said tools like nanny cams are becoming more accessible to people‚ which would make prosecuting such cases easier.

"I really think this happens more than we realise. It is important to take precautions and know who you employ to look after your child‚" he said.

"Cases like these are usually difficult to investigate because they are 'closed door cases' but I think the family's saving grace in this case would be the fact that they have this on video. It makes investigating and prosecuting the case so much easier‚" he said.

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