Nursery worker found guilty of manslaughter

[LadyEloise1]

Such a dreadful case.
A nursery worker Kate Roughley, has been found guilty of manslaughter when a 9 month old baby, Genevieve in her care at a nursery died after being placed face down, tightly swaddled and strapped to a bean bag and covered with a blanket.
She left the obviously distressed baby girl in that position for 1 hour and 37 minutes.
Beyond horrific.
Where were the other adults at that nursery ?
How could they allow it to happen ?

The poor wee baby and her grieving parents.
How can they ever get over that

The scary thing is, strapping babies face down on a beanbag and covering them up mustn’t have been unusual there - she must have done it before.

Two members of staff to 11 babies?! That’s outrageous. The nursery should also be on trial.

I agree. I would feel absolutely nothing watching that. People who abuse children are the lowest of the low and have no place on planet Earth. The nursery are an absolute disgrace as well.

This CPS guidance also draws some parallels between corporate manslaughter offences and ill treatment/wilful neglect offences

https://www.cps.gov.uk/legal-guidance/ill-treatment-or-wilful-neglect-offences-sections-20-25-criminal-justice-and-courts

AFAIK, the death penalty has never applied for manslaughter.

I have visited a lot of nurseries over the years ( supervising work experience places) and although I have seen some excellent nurseries , I have also seen a lot with fairly hard faced, disinterested senior staff and very young junior staff who lacked qualificationsand were often just not very bright. I have also had my work experience students report to me that they were bullied by staff members which does not bode well to how babies and young children are cared for. Lots of workers in nurseries do an amazing job despite the low pay, but I think the low pay culture creates an environment where less then excellent staff can get and retain jobs. This is obviously completely different to someone who would cause the death of a baby but I think it is less likely to happen if the standards were higher.

For murder you have to be able to prove intent to kill. CPS clwarly didn't have enough evidence to prove murder, so manslaughter it is.

There is no justice in the world.

This is beyond sad, that poor little beautiful baby, it’s hideous. I can’t imagine the pain her parents feel.

Evil bitch who did it, I hope she gets terrorised in prison. They don’t take too kindly to child killers.

I agree.
This is a political issue and something needs to be done.
Standards are so low, for the most precious things in our lives.

Because no one wants to pay more for childcare, and a lot of hours are paid for by the Government at a bargain-bucket price.
It's the result of a system where (like many other business areas) prices have been driven down - that means input costs must follow, and as a result pretty much everyone at a nursery isn't far off minimum wage.

I hope she gets what's coming to her in prison - she won't last 6 months.

It's horrific and she sounds like a bully. However long she gets it won't be long enough.

The owners of the nursery should also face prison time as, independently to the nursery worker's personal responsibility for what she did, they are responsible for creating an illegal working environment in which overworked employees could not provide an adequate standard of care.

Sometimes and unstable and unsuitable people choose to work with the voiceless and animals.
When they are in charge- It’s even worse.

An appalling crime.

Im surprised people dont know that that pay rate is fairly standard. What do people think that the hourly rate is for most nursery care staff. And elderly care home staff. Most are on NMW or just a bit above. She was the deputy manager so just above.

Similar to working in a supermarket. Think about that.

As a 2 yr old, after Mum
died, Dad had to put me in a day nursery.

The women there were awful- Particularly the boss - She force fed us ( making us sit on the loos so we couldn’t escape)
I remember the fear and anguish of going there.
My Aunt said “ I hated taking you there- that Matron was a wrong ‘un”

But the family had to work-

Children’s early years are so precious and so formative- they need love and care, not disinterested bullies looking after them.

Oh @oakleaffy what a horrible experience for you, losing your beloved Mum at such a young age and then being abused in that nursery.

This, and another side effect of all the spending cuts due to Government trying to break down the Local Authorities is that visitors in to Nurseries from related professionals, are now rare.

I remember having a conversation with a worried Nursery Manager about 10 years ago, who said, 5 years prior to that, they would have professionals, visiting Nurseries on a very regular basis - Area SENCos, Early Years Consultants, Early Years Teachers, EPs, U%s Team, Local Authority Welfare staff, as well as SaLTs, OTs, Physios, HVs etc. It would be quite normal to have different people visit every week, or even more than one a week, but even at that point (10 years ago) she said they are now lucky if they see one person a term.
All of those people were eyes and ears, and very quickly reported staff shortages / rooms out of ratio / any other concerns. Now, Nurseries can go for months without anyone knowing what is happening in there.

Like Rataouille, I am aware there are SO many fabulous staff in so many Nurseries, but there are also a lot of poorly educated, under confident young girls who don't know how to challenge any poor practice they see, and, because the Government cuts have decimated all LA Teams, there is no-one to check.

I’d be waiting for her the day she leaves prison.

Why strapped to a beanbag?
Quite clearly terribly dangerous for anyone with an iota of common sense.

Sadly people feel that there isn’t much skill required to looking after babies and young children- But where is the common sense?

The staff probably wanted an easy life hence muffling the cries of a distraught infant.

They should have cuddled and nurtured her-
A Nanny is a much better option- or a good child minder.

Totally. Not defending her but where are the owners? They owe some responsibility for safeguarding and oversight don't they?

I believe that they could possibly be charged with corporate neglect. I think that would result in a fine. As they have lost their license and given up the business, I don’t know if there is still a “corporate” to be held to account.

Terrible case.

I often hear people say they've chosen a nursery over a nanny or a childminder because they think there is safety in numbers, that something like this couldn't happen in a nursery, they couldn't be more wrong.

@Notreat you say she didn't intend to kill.
What did she think would happen when she strapped a wee baby with asthma face down on a bean bag and covering her with a blanket.

I know I find it highly disturbing - very chilling - that strapping babies face down on bean bags and covering them up was seen as “normal” there.

The maximum sentence for manslaughter is life imprisonment. I would hope she gets the appropriate sentence for what she did.

Surely the only outcome in this situation was going to be the death of that poor baby?

That's a bit of a get out though, isn't it?

This is devastating. I hope she suffers a terrible painful end. Evil cunt.