The private prosecutions representing the families of the minors allegedly mistreated at the Pecas nursery school in Pozuelo de Alarcón have counted more than 1,800 episodes of assaults and conduct of a denigrating nature from the recordings of the center’s security cameras.
Legal sources cited by Europa Press explain that the parents’ lawyers have detected hundreds of new scenes during the analysis of recordings spanning around two months, in which they describe both alleged episodes of physical violence against the little ones and conduct they qualify as humiliating and harmful to their dignity.
Among the practices observed are, in addition to the assaults, actions such as throwing the children’s pacifiers to the floor and then putting them back in their mouths, changing their diapers without using wipes to clean them, or resorting to dirty items during their daily hygiene.
The accusations maintain that this type of conduct, although not all of it has the same weight nor necessarily constitutes physical assaults, could have criminal significance because of the treatment that would have been given to the minors.
The location of these new sequences comes after the Prosecutor’s Office asked to limit to 110 the facts under investigation, considering it essential to specify the conduct attributed to each of those under investigation in order to avoid situations of defenselessness, according to what the newspaper "El Mundo" reported.
During the course of the investigation, the magistrate initially came to expand the number of episodes under investigation to around 350, a decision that was appealed by one of the defenses and to which the Public Prosecutor’s Office joined.
Meanwhile, the private prosecutions have continued watching the images and have been submitting different filings to incorporate new scenes that, in their view, could fit into different criminal offenses, according to the same sources.
The proceedings are directed against seven people, among them members of the center’s management team and several educators, for their alleged involvement in the events or for their relation to the treatment the children would have received.
A trainee student uncovered the alleged assaults
The case was opened as a result of the complaint filed by a trainee worker at the nursery school, who alerted authorities to the alleged mistreatment and provided recordings obtained clandestinely at the premises. Subsequently, the National Police analyzed both those videos and other images captured by the center’s security cameras.
The police investigations made it possible to detect alleged assaults, rough handling, humiliations, and situations in which the young children, of very tender age, remained unattended by the caregivers.
In June 2024, the Madrid Provincial Court confirmed the validity of the recordings and upheld the restraining order against two of the caregivers with respect to the nursery school, against the defense teams, which questioned the quality of the images and their suitability for identifying the investigated women.
In that ruling, the magistrates noted that the recordings made it possible to recognize the employees and showed rough conduct with the minors, especially during naptime, when some caregivers allegedly pushed them against the mats, pressed on their heads, or covered them with sheets, even over their heads.
The judicial investigation focuses on alleged offenses of degrading treatment, injuries, and failure to render aid, among other possible criminal offenses. The proceedings include 21 minors, up to three years of age, as possible victims of the reported घटनाओं.
The Pecas nursery school ceased its activity in February 2024 after the Pozuelo de Alarcón City Council detected urban-planning irregularities and the existence of constructions intended to hold classes without the required license.