Slaps in the face, pats on the head, pulled hair: an educator from a Montreal daycare center admitted Tuesday to having abused four toddlers over a period of only a few days. Nassira El Hmaini’s violent actions would probably have remained secret if a colleague had not filmed her without her knowledge.
Posted at 5:08 p.m.
The 31-year-old pleaded guilty to five counts of assault on Tuesday at the Montreal courthouse. His crimes were committed in November and December 2020 against four young children aged around two. One of them was hit twice.
Nassira El Hmaini had worked since 2015 as an educator at the KIDZ daycare center located on rue Guizot, in the Villeray district, in Montreal.
A colleague of the accused caught her in the act for the first time on November 27 slapping a two-year-old child on the cheek while saying “No, no”. Three days later, Nassira El Hmaini told a child to move his head during a nap.
“She aggressively places her, slaps her in the face and tells her ‘lay down there.’ [La victime] cries following the slap received in the face”, relates the joint summary of the facts read by the Crown prosecutor Mand Gabrielle Delisle.
At the beginning of December 2020, Nassira El Hmaini was again filmed without her knowledge by an educator. On the video, we can see a little girl, lying on the ground, crying. The accused is seated at her side and pulls her by the hair while discussing with the educator who is filming. The accused then said: “there, you are silent”, then later placed a blanket on the child.
A few days later, Nassira El Hmaini is once again caught in the act of giving a child two pats on the head while saying “go”. Then she picks him up by his arm and leg and throws him to the ground. She subsequently throws a blanket on the child, according to the summary of facts.
The next day, December 8, 2020, Nassira El Hmaini was fired. She then begged the head of the daycare not to tell the parents since she lived in the same neighborhood. Arrested in mid-December, the educator told the police that she wanted to file a complaint against the educators.
The prosecutor M.and Gabrielle Delisle intends to seek a prison sentence in this case. A suggestion “opposed” to that of the defense, which probably should demand a lenient sentence from judge Alexandre St-Onge as an absolution.
In order to determine Nassira El Hmaini’s risk of recidivism, Judge St-Onge demanded that a pre-sentence report be drawn up. The defense attorney, M.and Maria Vivas, considered that the psychologist’s report was sufficient.
Sentencing submissions are scheduled for next September.