An educator who abused four toddlers in a Montreal daycare center explains her actions by the “toxic” work climate, her upbringing in Morocco and the “intolerable child-kings”. If Nassira El Hmaini hopes to obtain absolution, the Crown is asking for 8 to 10 months in prison because of numerous aggravating factors.
Posted at 3:51 p.m.
“I never did this to hurt them, I did this out of love. I apologize for having made these gestures, ”the 31-year-old woman testified with emotion Thursday during the observations on the sentence at the Montreal courthouse.
Nassira El Hmaini pleaded guilty to five counts of assault last May. His crimes were committed over a week-long period in 2020 against four young children aged around two. She had worked since 2015 as an educator at the KIDZ daycare center in the Villeray district of Montreal.
The evidence is based on videos taken without his knowledge by a colleague. On the first video, we see the accused slap in the face two children who move on their nap mattress. ” Go to sleep ! “, she says to one of them. The slaps are very audible. On the other excerpts, the educator pulls, among other things, the hair of a little girl, hits a child on the head and throws another on the ground.
If Nassira El Hmaini has admitted several times to being the “solely responsible” for her actions, she explains her acting out by many factors. Thus, she claims to have been regularly beaten by her mother during her childhood, which was common in Morocco. It was therefore her “unconscious of children” who took over at the time of the facts, she explained.
In addition, at the daycare, several educators hit the children, for example by pinching them or hitting them with toys, says Nassira El Hmaini. One of the educators even threatened her with death if she reported her, said the accused. Victim of bullying, she felt like a “vulnerable” person at the time of the events. “My self-esteem was shattered. The environment was toxic,” she said.
Nassira El Hmaini also claims that she often had to take care of a group of children exceeding the legal child-educator ratio. In cross-examination, she mentioned that some toddlers in the daycare were “intolerable child-kings”.
The Montrealer maintains that she was “first in class” during her training in Quebec to become an educator. She has never received any training in corporal punishment, she said.
“I apologize to the parents for having committed these gestures. I apologize to society. I am very ashamed,” she repeated.
According to the Crown prosecutor, Ms.e Gabrielle Delisle, a firm prison sentence is necessary to denounce the crimes and reflect their seriousness. She cited the vulnerability of the victims, the repetition of the gestures and the consequences on the children and the parents as aggravating factors. The children were devastated by the events, according to harrowing letters filed in court.
The defense attorney, M.e Maria Vivas, asked judge Alexandre St-Onge to give his client an unconditional discharge. To justify such a lenient sentence, she argues her client’s remorse, her therapy initiated and the media coverage of the case.
The judge will make his decision next January.