Covid delays sentencing of crèche worker filmed assaulting toddlers

10 September 2020 - 12:57
By naledi shange AND Naledi Shange
Nellie Senwametsi has been found guilty of assaulting children at a Carletonville creche.
Image: Screengrab from the original video Nellie Senwametsi has been found guilty of assaulting children at a Carletonville creche.

A Carletonville caregiver, who was filmed beating children at the crèche she was employed at, must wait to hear if she will be sentenced to the prescribed jail time of 10 years for assault, or if the court will find that there are extenuating circumstances.

Nelly Senwametsi, who used to work at the Ninnies Neurons crèche, was due to be sentenced by the Oberholzer magistrate’s court on Thursday after being found guilty of two counts of common assault and one of assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm. Her three victims were four years old.

Her case, however, was postponed to next week after the court was told her lawyer is in self-isolation.

The three videos, which surfaced in April 2019, sparked outrage as they showed Senwametsi smacking the children on the buttocks, repeatedly slapping them their heads and hitting them with a wooden scrubbing brush on different occasions.

TimesLIVE