Israel Police began investigating a complaint filed Tuesday regarding a preschool teacher who may have abused a child in her care, Israel Hayom reported.
The complaint, filed by an Ashdod resident, claims that the preschool teacher was abusive to her son. The mother told the police her story, after which the preschool teacher was ordered to appear for questioning.
During the interrogation, the preschool teacher denied the allegations, claiming that her actions were misunderstood. She has been released under limiting conditions.
According to the mother, her two-year-old son attended a private Ashdod preschool, and she was informed of the suspected abuse by her eldest daughter, aged 5. The daughter was in preschool with her younger brother, since according to the mother, she had no childcare arrangements for that day and the preschool management agreed to allow her to attend along with her brother.
At the end of the day, the daughter told her mother that she saw the preschool teacher "tie" her brother to a chair so that he would sit and eat without disturbing. The preschool teacher used the child's shirt to tie him, she said.
The mother accused the preschool teacher, who she said admitted to having done such a thing. However, even according to the mother, the preschool teacher claims that she tied the child so that he would sit and eat, without falling down. According to the preschool teacher, she did not tie the child, but rather pulled his shirt over the back of the chair while he was wearing it. The mother also claims that she spoke with the preschool manager, who said that this was an unusual incident but was done in order to "protect" the child so that he could eat, and not out of intent to harm him.
The mother also demanded that the police interrogate the preschool teacher on suspicion of attacking and abusing a helpless individual. Police interrogators took testimony from her, and afterwards detained the 50-year-old preschool teacher for questioning, in which she reiterated her statement that there was no abuse, only an attempt to protect the child, who was disturbing and not sitting down to eat.
Police interrogators intend to take testimony from the assistant teachers, as well as from the owner of the preschool, Israel Hayom noted. They also intend to check with other parents, to see if they were exposed to similar behaviors.
The investigation is ongoing, police said.