Nursery manager ‘made babies eat their own vomit’

A nursery manager force fed babies in her care until they were sick, before making them eat their own vomit, a court heard today.

Croydon Crown Court heard how Laura Pettitt threw blankets over children’s faces when they wouldn’t sleep and refused to change their dirty nappies.

The 27-year-old worked at Little Stars nursery in Bromley, south London and had previously been arrested and interviewed by police in January 2009, but claimed colleagues fabricated the allegations after learning she was a lesbian.

She denies the 10 charges of child cruelty dating from between January 2006 and November 2008.

Pettitt, of Thayers Farm road, Beckenham, south east London, worked at the nursery for seven years and became manager of the baby room, where she was in charge of children ranging from babies aged just a few months up to young toddlers.

Prosecutor Tana Adkin said: “Laura Pettitt, when she lost her temper and the babies would not do her will, would treat them roughly in a manner than amounts to cruelty, the prosecution say.”

Pettitt shouted “for Christ’s sake, shut up” at crying babies who would not go to sleep, dropped them from small heights and slapped them on the back of the head, the court was told.

Other allegations explained how she force fed them until they’d vomit, roughly shook a small premature baby and called an Asian baby girl “Joe Daki” – for Paki.

The alleged abuse only came to light in November 2008 after a nursery assistant Nicola Fiddler complained that Pettitt, while sitting on a sofa, had used her foot to push down the head of a child lying on the floor.

Miss Fiddler first raised concerns with the nursery’s management but she felt it was not taken seriously enough so went to the NSPCC, who passed the matter onto social services and police.

Relatives of some of the children sobbed in court as the details of the alleged cruelty were read out.