An early childhood carer broke down in court describing how a colleague allegedly smacked young children.
Lynn Euphemia Abraham, 59, is defending 11 charges against nine children, all under the age of five, in a jury trial at the Auckland District Court.
Jennifer Wong said she was unable to sleep at night after she claimed to have watched Lynn Abraham tape a young girl's mouth shut because she refused to stop screaming.
In December 2012, a four-year-old girl was playing and yelling outside when Abraham told her to stop screaming.
The girl didn't stop screaming, so she put cellotape over her mouth for about five minutes, according to Ms Wong.
She became emotional and broke down in court and said: "It shocked us... I couldn't sleep."
She also described how Abraham smacked another child.
"Lynn told him to sit still, he doesn't sit still. He moves around. Then he got smacked by Lynn," she told the court.
"[He] got moved to the back of the room, screaming and kicking. [We were] scared he was going to break glass window. So he was put in the back stairway."
Ms Wong said there was another boy, also four, who often swore and abused staff.
She alleged he would spit out his food and Abraham would force him to eat, holding his cheeks to try and get him to chew.
One day he vomited and Abraham scooped the vomit up in a bowl and force-fed it to him, Ms Wong told the court.
Abraham has denied the charges of assault against nine children, including allegedly smacking five children on their hands, bottoms or thighs.
The Onehunga woman is also accused of force-feeding three children.
Newshub.
