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Police name Depok preschool owner suspect in viral child abuse case
Police have named the owner of a preschool in Depok as a suspect of child abuse after video clips of CCTV footage of the incidents under investigation went viral on social media.
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Stock illustration of early childhood (Shutterstock/Silkspin)
T
he Depok Police have named the owner of Wensen School Indonesia, identified only by the initials MI, as a suspect for allegedly abusing a 2-year-old and a 9-month-old at her early childhood school in the West Java city.
Depok Police chief Sr. Comr. Arya Perdana said investigators had questioned four witnesses and several pieces of evidence, including CCTV footage of the alleged incidents, in connection with the case.
“We have declared her as a suspect” after verifying the evidence, Arya said on Thursday as quoted by Kompas.com.
He added that MI had confessed to mistreating the two toddlers.
Video clips of the CCTV footage capturing the incidents of alleged abuse went viral on social media recently and sparked public outrage.
One clip reportedly shows MI kicking the 2-year-old, while another shows her throwing the 9-month-old infant, causing injury including joint dislocation.
“We do not tolerate any form of violence against children. The perpetrator admits she made a mistake, but we will still investigate the case and have her psychological condition checked,” Arya said.
The suspect is being charged with Article 80, paragraphs 1 and 2 of the 2014 Child Protection Law and faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison.
Depok Education Agency secretary Sutarno said his office was coordinating closely with the police investigation.
According to Sutarno, Wensen School Indonesia is only licensed to operate as a preschool.
“I have not found any recommendations from the [agency] regarding a day care permit,” he said, and promised that his office would ramp up monitoring of early childhood schools in the city. (vny)
