Witnesses Describe Children's Trauma After Little Aresha Daycare Abuse: Fear of Water

The trial of the Little Aresha daycare abuse case continued today with witness examination by the public prosecutor. Nine witnesses, all parents of victims, were presented in this session. They gave testimony ranging from the trauma suffered by the victims to the amount of daycare fees paid.

Like the second hearing last week, the session held in the Nusantara courtroom of the Yogyakarta District Court also combined three cases because the witnesses were the same.

The alleged abuse case at Little Aresha daycare is divided into three cases. The first is case number 194/Pid.Sus/2026/PNYyk with 11 caregivers as defendants: FN (30), NF (26), Lis (34), EN (26), SRm (54), DR (32), HP (47), ZA (30), SRj (50), DO (31), and DM (28).

The second case, number 195/Pid.Sus/2026/PNYyk, has as defendant the chairwoman of the foundation that oversees the daycare, DK (51). The third, case number 196/Pid.Sus/2026/PNYyk, has the head teacher and AP (42) as defendants.

Trauma Experienced by the Victims

During the trial, the public prosecutor asked many questions which were answered in turn by the nine witnesses. One of the questions concerned the children’s behaviour after being placed at Little Aresha daycare.

One witness, identified as WM, said that her child developed a trauma related to water after being placed at Little Aresha. According to her, the child became frightened at the sight of water, and this has continued to the present day.

“When it was time to wash his hair, he refused. So anything related to water, bathing, he would fuss compared to before he was placed at Little Aresha,” witness WM explained in her testimony at the trial on Monday (31/8/2026).

“It was evident at the new place (new daycare) that other children his age were very happy playing with water, but my child was very afraid, even backing away,” she continued.

In addition to the trauma, the parents’ testimony today also mentioned physical injuries suffered by the victims while they were still placed at Little Aresha.

For example, the child of a witness identified as HK. She recounted that on one occasion when she picked up her child from the daycare, upon arriving home, blood was coming out of the child’s ear. She immediately asked the daycare about it.

“There were no scratch marks there, so there was quite a lot of blood at that time, but it was not flowing heavily,” said witness HK.

“When I confirmed about the blood coming out of the ear, they said that until the afternoon there was no bleeding, and information from the person who prepared him said that even when his ear was cleaned with a wet wipe there was no blood,” she added.

Fee Amounts

Besides the condition of the victims, the public prosecutor also asked about the parents’ reasons for placing their children at Little Aresha. The majority of witnesses answered that the daycare’s location was close to their workplace. In addition, the promised facilities offered were also a factor.

The public prosecutor then continued by asking about the registration fee and monthly tuition fees that parents had to pay. The witnesses gave a uniform answer, namely Rp 1,100,000 for the tuition fee for the year 2026.

This amount was paid for a placement duration of 5-6 days per week, on average from 7.00 am to 5.00 pm Western Indonesia Time.

“In 2025 I paid Rp 1,050,000 because I took the package from Monday to Friday until 5 pm. Then in 2026 the tuition fee rose to Rp 1,100,000,” said one witness identified as MC.

The witnesses also explained the payment methods for the tuition fee. First, it was paid by transfer to two accounts belonging to the foundation chairwoman, Diyah Kusumastuti. In addition, some paid in cash which was entrusted to one of the caregivers.

However, the witnesses presented another fact, namely that there was another account that Diyah had offered as a destination for tuition fee transfers.

“At first I transferred to Mrs Diyah’s account, but in the following months I paid in cash, in an envelope, through one of the misses, Miss Wuri,” explained witness MC.

“I often transferred to Mrs Diyah’s BNI account, but there were several times we transferred outside that account. Under the names Firda and Wong Alim, but only occasionally. I don’t know who Firda and Wong Alim are,” added another witness identified as AP.

The next hearing will be held on Thursday (3/9) with the same agenda, namely examination by the public prosecutor. However, the prosecutor has not yet revealed which witnesses will be presented.