Daycare owner convicted of 18 counts of child abuse in high-profile case

A daycare owner has been convicted on 18 counts of child abuse, in a case that sparked outrage and protests across the country.

Carmel Mauda, 26, who ran the Baby Love center in Rosh Ha’ayin, was accused of systematic violence against 11 children, three months to three years old, between May 27 and June 16. She will be sentenced at a later date.

“On many occasions during her work at the daycare, the defendant attacked infants and toddlers in the daycare,” the court ruling says, according to Channel 12.

Graphic security camera footage released by police last year showed Mauda tying up children, force-feeding them, smothering toddlers who refused to go to sleep with blankets, and physically abusing them.

Carmel Mauda, the owner of a kindergarten who was filmed abusing toddlers, sits at the courtroom in Lod, as she arrives for a court hearing on December 9, 2019. (Flash90)

According to the charge sheet handed down last July, Mauda would “on numerous occasions” attack the children, including covering them with blankets and sitting on them to prevent them from moving; tying up a child “for minutes to hours”; lifting the toddlers by the arms and throwing them to the ground; shaking babies; forcing children to stand, facing a wall, for hours; hitting the toddlers with diapers, slapping them, and pulling their heads back while obstructing their breathing.

“In one of the cases, the minor was forced to eat the contents of a plate on which he had vomited,” the indictment said.