Victim's Parent: Little Aresha Daycare is Cruel!
Parents of victims in the alleged abuse case at the Little Aresha childcare facility recounted the savage treatment by the caregivers at the daycare. Even after viewing video evidence, they likened it to being more cruel than Cuba’s Guantanamo camp.
For context, Guantanamo Bay is a detention camp established in 2002 by the United States in Cuba. It is a controversial military prison for suspected terrorists and has been heavily criticised for alleged torture.
This comparison was voiced by one of the victims’ parents, Noorman Windarto. With a trembling voice, Noorman described the daycare’s conditions and the caregivers’ treatment of the children.
“We just trusted it because the place seemed spacious, and the silly thing is we didn’t ask how many children were actually there,” Noorman explained after a meeting with the Mayor of Yogyakarta on Sunday (26/4/2026).
“It turned out there were over 50 children, from babies to toddlers—wow, it’s unbelievably inhumane. They say this camp is more cruel than Guantanamo,” he added.
Noorman himself followed authorities to the location during the police raid on Friday (24/4), and he also viewed the raid footage. He admitted he couldn’t watch the entire video.
According to him, the police-shown video depicted children being treated very inhumanely, including his own child.
“I’ve become traumatised too; if I see that (video), I cry for sure. So I’ve decided to leave it as evidence and trust the police,” Noorman added.
Parents of Little Aresha Daycare Victims Meet the Mayor
Meanwhile, several victims’ parents visited the Mayor of Yogyakarta’s official residence. Their arrival was directly received by Mayor Hasto Wardoyo. Several agreements were reached between the two parties during the meeting.
Hasto explained that the meeting focused on listening to the parents’ stories and grievances. These were accommodated, solutions were sought, and agreements were made together.
“In principle, they requested protection and assistance for their children, as the children are now showing signs of psychological unwellness,” Hasto clarified after the meeting on Sunday (26/4/2026).
“We will immediately form a team to support the children, which will require child psychologists, child nutrition experts, and parenting specialists,” Hasto stated.
“Secondly, the parents are also experiencing stress and shock, so they were crying while sharing earlier. They also want psychological support,” he continued.
Additionally, Hasto mentioned discussions on providing future childcare placements for the victims. This is because most of the parents are still working and need safer daycares.
“Where will they entrust their children tomorrow morning? This is an urgent and emergency matter since they generally work. We will quickly identify other safe, trustworthy, and healthy daycares,” he said.
Finally, efforts to prevent similar incidents from recurring were discussed. Hasto is deploying his staff to inventory all daycares in the area. Afterwards, the city government will conduct sweeps of those daycares.
“Within a maximum of two days, we will know the status of all daycares in Yogyakarta. Those without permits are clearly illegal and must be closed immediately. They will definitely be shut down if unlicensed—one of the permit requirements is visitation,” Hasto emphasised firmly.
Previously, police raided the Little Aresha childcare facility in Umbulharjo, Yogyakarta City, over alleged child abuse on Friday (24/4). During the operation, officers directly witnessed the caregivers’ treatment of the children.
“It is true that on the 24th, we conducted a raid on a childcare facility where our officers directly saw that the children were being treated inhumanely,” said Head of Criminal Investigation at Yogyakarta Police Resort, Commissioner Riski Adrian, to reporters on Saturday (25/4/2026).
“But in conclusion, it was indeed inhumane. There were cases where legs were tied, hands were tied, and so on. That’s the general explanation I can give,” he added.
From preliminary examinations, Adrian continued, dozens of children were victims. However, investigators are still conducting further probes, and the number of victims may increase.
“For those we saw with abusive actions, there were about 53 people. Based on data,” Adrian revealed.