Someone must be to blame - mother

Jan 15 2008 By Hilary Clixby, The Journal

A REGISTERED childminder failed to get help for an obviously injured girl in her care.

Kavita Kohli had charge of two-year-old Emily Berry when she suffered extensive bruising to her face and body and a trapped ligament in her arm, Newcastle Crown Court heard yesterday.

But Kohli, who ran the Mother’s Pride childminders from her parents’ home in Western Way, Darras Hall, denied being responsible for any
of the injuries and said she did not witness their cause.

Instead the mother-of-one pleaded guilty to a charge of cruelty on a basis accepted by the prosecution that she showed neglect in failing to respond to Emily’s obvious distress in not seeking medical attention.

Kohli, 29, who now lives at Ellesmere Road in Benwell, Newcastle, was sentenced to a 12-month community order. Her husband Ricky Kohli walked free from court after the prosecution offered no evidence against him.

No-one has been charged with causing Emily’s injuries and Judge John Evans said on the basis of the plea, he could not properly conclude there was a danger she would injure children in future and disqualify her from working as a childminder. But he said it seemed to him “entirely inappropriate” for her to work in that capacity again.

He told Kohli: “Those injuries must have been obvious to you. You failed to take the steps you accept you should have taken to bring those injuries and the distress Emily suffered to the attention of medical authorities very much sooner.

“You did not do so and, as a result, Emily experienced very much greater distress by reason of delay than she need experience, had you acted as you undoubtedly should have acted. In my judgment, you are not suitable to work with other people’s children in the way you have until now.”

Speaking after the hearing Emily’s mother Zoe Berry said she was considering taking legal action over her daughter’s injuries.

She said: “We are looking at civil matters. We are going to seek legal advice to see what we can do. It seems bizarre a child can suffer such injuries and no-one is held accountable for it. Emily was in hospital for three nights, including her birthday.” Mrs Berry, of Donkins House Farm in Darras Hall, said Emily was still suffering psychologically.

Robert Woodcock, prosecuting, said: “It hasn’t been possible for the Crown to prove who was responsible for the injuries. That being so, the Crown’s acceptance of the basis of Kavita Kohli’s plea was in the end inevitable.”

He said Mrs Berry had dropped Emily off at Kohli’s home confident she was uninjured and in no distress, but when she collected her later that day, she noticed Emily was in obvious distress. She saw a lump on Emily’s forehead and saw she had some pain in one of her arms.

Mrs Berry took her daughter to hospital, where doctors discovered she had 14 separate injuries, including bruising to her face and a twisting injury to her arm which damaged a ligament.

Penny Moreland, defending, handed in references on behalf of Kohli, who won praise for her childminding skills from the Government watchdog body Ofsted in an inspection report in May 2006.

She said: “It is clear from her references and her career to date that this is out of character. The misjudgment she made was not to take any direct action or get assistance as soon as she realised something was wrong.”