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| Day care abuser faces arrest [2015/01/28 10:14] |
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The police agency said Thursday that it would seek an arrest warrant against a day care giver， who is alleged to have physically abused a child for not finishing meal， to take her into custody.
A 33-year-old day care provider， identified only by her surname Yang， was accused of physically abusing a four-year-old female child at a private child care center in Incheon， west of Seoul after investigators found from a surveillance camera footage that she had smashed the child for not finishing lunch last week. Yang was found to have a first-grade day care teacher certificate， the police said.
Yang admitted Monday that she had punched the child but she claimed that the act was part of the discipline measures to fix the child`s bad habit， the authorities said. The investigators are planning to seek an arrest warrant no later than early Friday.
The police have secured the day care facility‘s surveillance camera footages of the last 24 days， which is the maximum storage period， to look into any further charges of Yang. The investigators also collected testimony reports from parents of 16 other students who reportedly shared similar experiences.
Some children had frequently told their parents that they would not like to go to the facility since March last year， the parents said. Yang had reportedly been fired from the other day care facility in the past for locking a child in a room， according to the parents` testimony.
Families of the children are considering to take legal action against the day care center to seek compensation. Concerns escalated over the child safety at day care centers after several child abuse cases were reported late last year in the city. Two female child care workers were booked without detention for child abuse charges.
As the public anger grew over repeated cases， the ruling Saenuri Party vowed to tighten child care regulations. “(The government and the ruling party) will make sure to amend the anti-child abuse measures this time. These would include mandatorily installing surveillance cameras at facilities， tightening the eligibility of day care givers and toughening the punishment against child abusers，” Saenuri Party floor leader Rep. Lee Wan-koo said.
The ruling party and the government will soon form a task force team to draft up the preventive measures in details， Lee added. The Welfare Ministry also pledged to take administrative measures against the concerned facility after thoroughly looking into the case with the police. It may face shutdown or cancellation of the day care permit， the ministry said. The concerned facility has been closed since Thursday. |
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