KAJANG: A woman claimed her baby girl was not only force-fed but also had her hair pulled by a babysitter at a privately-run childcare centre in Bandar Mahkota Cheras near here.
The woman said she only found out that her 17-month-old toddler had been abused when she received several video recordings and pictures of the alleged incident via WhatsApp from a former employee of the centre on May 28.
The situation is more concerning after the woman, 32, also claimed that she was told that other children sent to the centre had also suffered similar ordeals endured by her daugther.
"In the recording, a woman, believed to be the babysitter, can be seen forcefully stuffing food into my child's mouth, causing her to cry.
"What is more shocking is that the former employee claimed that the babysitter also pulled my child's hair until it broke off.
"She sent me a picture of the broken hair, but I am not sure whose hair it is. She claims that other children were also treated the same way," she told reporters at the Bandar Mahkota Cheras Dapsy office here today.
Present were Selangor DAP Public Complaints Bureau chief Lee Wen Bin and the father of the toddler.
The woman contacted the operator of the childcare centre to verify the incident and requested the closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage.
However, she claimed that she was provided with an edited version of the CCTV footage.
Unhappy and feeling something was amiss, the woman lodged a report at the Bandar Sungai Long police station last Wednesday.
She said she had been sending her daughter, who is the only child in the family, to the childcare centre since March after seeing an advertisement on Facebook offering a monthly fee of RM1,800.
"I am devastated as I did not expect the babysitter to treat my child in such a way, especially since we are paying a high fee.
"I was informed that there are about 10 children and two babysitters working at the centre.
"To this day, my child is still traumatized. When I try to feed her, she seems scared and cries.
"I am also afraid to send her to the centre, so I am now taking care of her at home," she said.
Meanwhile, Lee hopes that the authorities will take immediate action to prevent more people from becoming victims.
He also hopes that the Women, Family, and Community Development Ministry will conduct an investigation, including checking whether the operator of the centre has a license to carry out childcare services or otherwise.