Two kindergarten workers charged after tape-shut mouth incident with 3-year-old

The Kaposvár District Prosecutor's Office has brought criminal charges against two employees of a kindergarten located near the Somogy county seat for extreme mistreatment of a three-year-old child under their supervision. The women allegedly called the boy "undormánynak," "utálatnak" and "köcsög," and struck him repeatedly as disciplinary measures. During a lunch break the child crawled under a table, prompting one caregiver to take him to a bed, where she affixed a wide strip of cellux adhesive tape over his mouth before removing it a few seconds later when he started to sob.

While the child escaped physical harm, prosecutors argue the conduct gravely endangered his emotional and physical development. The kindergarten’s management terminated the staff members with immediate, extraordinary dismissal. The indictment requests a suspended prison sentence for endangering a minor and a permanent prohibition from any occupation involving the care or supervision of persons under eighteen.