Police: Little Aresha Daycare Used a Dummy Room to Deceive Parents
Police say that the management of Little Aresha Daycare in the city of Yogyakarta used a dummy room to deceive parents who entrusted their children to the daycare.
The head of the PPA Unit of the Yogyakarta Police Criminal Investigation Unit, Ipda Apri Sawitri, said that the dummy room was allegedly prepared by the daycare management to convince parents.
“The dummy room was shown to parents when they were about to register their children at Little Aresha, and they were told that this was the room that would be used for the children,” said Apri when contacted on Friday (May 15).
According to Apri, the founder, whose initials are DK, usually scheduled the inspection of the daycare facilities on Saturdays or when there were not many children at the daycare.
“The dummy room was shown to parents, and it looked good, with air conditioning. They were also promised that there would be one caregiver for each baby. During the inspection, there were also real beds,” she said.
However, Apri added, the facilities that the children actually received after being enrolled at the daycare were the opposite.
The room was small, and the caregivers had to look after more than one child.
In addition, during the raid in April, police found toddlers sleeping on playmats.
13 Suspects
Apri confirmed that the number of suspects has not increased and remains at 13, including the founder, the headmaster, and the rest of the caregivers. Several others are being questioned as witnesses.
The police have named a total of 13 suspects in the alleged case of child abuse and neglect at Little Aresha Daycare in the Umbulharjo area, Yogyakarta City, DIY.
The suspects are the founder, whose initials are DK, and the headmaster, AP. The others are FN, NF, LIS, EN, SRM, DR, HP, JA, SRJ, DO, and DM, who are all caregivers. The number of child victims is estimated to be 53.
According to the police, DK and AP instructed the caregivers to treat the children inhumanely, including tying their hands and feet from morning until they were picked up by their parents.
The instruction was not given as a punishment for the children, but because of the lack of caregivers at the daycare. The police said that there were only 2-4 caregivers per shift, and they had to look after at least 20 children.
The investigators will apply the corporate article, namely Article 76A in conjunction with Article 77, or Article 76B in conjunction with Article 77B, or Article 76C in conjunction with Article 80 of Law No. 35 of 2014 on Child Protection in conjunction with Article 20, Article 21 of Law No. 1 of 2023 of the Criminal Code.
The article relates to the alleged criminal act of treating children in a discriminatory manner, or placing, allowing, involving, or ordering children to be involved in situations of abuse, neglect, or violence against children. The penalty is 5 to 8 years in prison.
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