East Renfrewshire nursery worker branded "danger" to kids
An East Renfrewshire nursery worker who drew a moustache on a sleeping toddler's face with a permanent marker then took a photograph has been branded "a danger to children".
An East Renfrewshire nursery worker who drew a moustache on a sleeping toddler's face with a permanent marker then took a photograph has been branded "a danger to children".
Laura Houston, 25, also pulled the little boy's legs away from him, causing him to fall and hit his face off the floor, leaving him in tears.
She also tripped a little girl up and attacked a third toddler by slapping him across the chest to get him to be quiet - causing him to freeze with fear at being hit.
She denied assaulting the three one-year-olds, who can't be named for legal reasons, claiming another person had drawn on the boy's face.
Her victims were so young they could not speak - and could not tell their parents or the police what had happened.
But trainee nursery workers Logan Craig and Jennifer Mackie, who were Houston's colleagues at the time, witnessed the attacks, told police what had happened and gave evidence against Houston during her Paisley Sheriff Court trial, leading to her conviction.
Craig said she saw Houston drawing on the little boy's face whilst he was asleep, while Mackie said Houston admitted she had done it.
But today she was spared jail for the assaults, which took place at a Busby nursery, between August 2014 and February 2015.
Sheriff Colin Pettigrew placed Houston, a fully qualified Early Years Practitioner, on a 12-month Community Payback Order, requiring her to do 250 hours' unpaid work, as a direct alternative to custody.
As he did so, he said: “I am dealing with three charges of assaults committed by you, over a period of months, upon three children aged one, in the course of your employment as a nursery practitioner.
“Young children, given their age and developmental stage, are amongst the most vulnerable in our society.
“They are unable to protect themselves or report behaviour against them to others.
“Parents and guardians place their trust in the staff at nurseries to nurture their children in a happy, loving and caring environment.
“You occupied a position of trust.
“The separate assaults upon three very young children, over a period of months, constitute a flagrant abuse of that trust.
“Your actions were not undertaken in a vacuum - they had and continue to have consequences for the children and their families alike.
“You present a danger when working with children - your actions reveal you are totally unsuited to working with them.”
Houston, who will now be reported to the Scottish Ministers as unsuitable for working with children, showed no emotion as she was spared jail.
Other criminals in court waiting for their own cases to be heard gasped, while the parents of her victims cried at the news that she was not being locked up.
Remorseless Houston was spared jail after her solicitor, Vincent Cobb, said she continued to deny her guilt.
He said she was "well respected by a number of people", had "a good and stable background" and had suffered as a result of the case - losing a job following an anonymous phone call to her employers to inform them about the case against her.
Giving evidence at Houston's Paisley Sheriff Court trial, Mackie explained: "The boy had a moustache drawn over his top lip.
"Laura was, at that time, taking a picture of the boy with one of the nursery cameras of him with the pen on his face.
"Logan Craig said Laura had drawn on his face.
"I looked at Laura and she confirmed that.
"She said, 'aye I did, I did do it'.
"He was taken in to the bathroom by Logan because it wasn't coming off with one of the face wipes we had in the room."
And Mackie, who is now 18 but was only 16 at the time, said she was shaken by the incident.
She explained: "I was still training.
"This is a qualified member of staff - I'm meant to be looking up to her. "I felt a bit uneasy.
"I had seen Laura tripping up the children as well.
"I witnessed Laura calling one boy over and, as he was doing so, putting her leg out and tripping him over.
"The boy fell over and fell to the ground.
"He started crying as he'd obviously fell and hurt himself.
"She picked him up as if she'd done nothing wrong and just calmed him down."