A nursery worker who kicked a young boy in the face as part of a harrowing campaign of abuse has been found guilty of child cruelty.
Roksana Lecka was caught on CCTV roughly placing children on the floor causing them to cry and vaping less than a metre from a small baby on more than one occasion.
The 22-year-old of Avro Place, Hounslow, admitted seven counts of cruelty to a person under the age of 16 and was convicted of another 14 counts by a jury at Kingston Crown Court on Monday.
The trial followed a Met investigation, which found Lecka had abused children as young as ten months at two separate nurseries in Twickenham and Hounslow between October 2023 and June 2024.
Officers started to investigate Lecka in June 2024, after a member of staff at the nursery raised their concerns about her behaviour. They reviewed over 45 hours of CCTV from 28 June 2024.
Children’s parents gave statements and shared pictures of injuries showing multiple red marks, bruises and scratched on the children. The victim’s families received specialist support from officers.
Lecka was arrested at her home on 5 July on suspicion of child cruelty offences.
During an interview, she answered no comment to all questions and refused to acknowledge her actions when shown the CCTV footage. She was released on bail whilst officers within the Child Abuse Investigation Team continued enquiries.
Detective Sergeant Geoff Boye of Met Police’s Public Protection Command said Lecka’s offending was “prolific”.
“Footage showed Lecka carrying out multiple assaults on the children in her care which included repeatedly pinching and grabbing children, dropping babies into their cots and on one occasion, she delivered several kicks to a young boy to the face and stepped on his shoulder,” he said.
“She was further arrested and charged on 25 July 2024 with 12 counts of child cruelty, 12 counts of actual bodily harm and one count of attempting to cause grievous bodily harm with intent.”
Following an initial appearance in court, this indictment was amended to 24 counts of child cruelty against 24 separate children.
Lecka was convicted on Monday, 16 June of 21 counts of child cruelty. The jury found her not guilty on three counts. She will appear at Kingston Crown Court on Friday, 26 September for sentencing.
Detective Inspector Sian Hutchings of Met Police’s Public Protection Command said: “Despite being given multiple opportunities to do so, Lecka never admitted to her offences during the course of the investigation or gave any real insight into what caused her to do this. This has added more pain and confusion to the victims’ families.
“These families left their children in Lecka’s care, trusting her to take protect their children as well as the other staff at the nurseries clearly did.
“The footage of her offences against defenceless children was disturbing.
“I would like to praise the strength of the victim’s families who have had to sit in court and watch footage of the abuse which Lecka inflicted on their children.”
