""They prevented medical treatment and caused brain damage": Indictment against kindergarten director and caregiver in Rehovot

December 9, 2020   

A kindergarten director in Rehovot, Yaakov Kotovsky, 67, and a kindergarten caregiver, Yelena Kotovsky, also 67, were charged today (Wednesday) in the Central District Court in Lod with causing serious injury to an eight-month-old baby, who was left in a car for four and a half hours. What is a “shared car price list”? How will the prices be displayed in the price list? All the details According to the indictment, filed by Attorney Einat Benita, the defendant operated a kindergarten that he owned in his home in Rehovot. The kindergarten had two age groups, one of which was for infants, which numbered 6 babies under the age of two, and an adult group, which numbered approximately 9 children. The defendant lived in a building in the yard of the house. In exchange for the living arrangements, the defendant was responsible for caring for the infants and their babies on a daily basis. As part of the service provided to those registered at the kindergarten, the defendant drove a number of infants and children from their homes to the kindergarten and back every morning in a transportation vehicle. On November 17, 2020, the defendant drove an 8-month-old baby to the kindergarten and left him in the transportation vehicle. Only after approximately 4.5 hours, by chance, did the defendant notice that he had forgotten the baby in the vehicle. At this point, the defendant put the baby in the kindergarten and urged the defendant to help the baby. Approximately 15 minutes after entering the kindergarten, the defendant shared only with the defendant, by forgetting the The baby in the car. The defendants noticed that the baby was in a serious condition, that he was unconscious, his head was drooping and he was not responding to his surroundings. The defendants performed various acts in an attempt to restore the baby to consciousness. Despite this, for a period of approximately two and a quarter hours, the defendants prevented the baby from receiving medical treatment, thereby causing him injury and brain and medical damage in addition to the damage he had suffered from being in the car for long hours. During this period, the defendants performed, among other things, the following actions: The defendant laid the baby on a sofa, put a bottle of milk in his mouth, without any reaction from the baby; The defendant shook the bottle in the baby's mouth, without any reaction from the baby; The defendant turned the baby on his stomach and patted his back while pouring water on his head and body, the baby's head drooped; The defendant massaged the baby's chest; The defendant rocked and shook the baby; The defendant stripped the baby of his clothes until he was naked; The defendant moved the baby's face and slapped him in the face; together with another caregiver, the two put a spoon in the baby's mouth and applied pressure to his tongue in order to allow water to enter his body, on several occasions and for considerable periods of time. Subsequently, the accused, lifting the baby in her hands, and the other caregiver left the kindergarten. While the two were in the kindergarten yard, they committed acts there whose nature is not precisely known. Afterwards, the accused called the baby's mother and falsely informed her that the baby was not feeling well because he had vomited twice, was weak and tired and was suffering from diarrhea. The accused also stated that the baby was tired and slept during the kindergarten's operating hours until 10:00 a.m., when they tried to wake him up, and he opened his eyes a little. The baby's mother asked to take him back to their home. Immediately after the conversation, the defendants and the caregiver entered the baby's room, diapered and dressed the baby. The defendant then left the daycare center, taking the baby and driving him home. When the defendant arrived at the baby's home, the baby's mother noticed that his condition was serious. The baby was later rushed by ambulance to the hospital for intensive care in serious condition and requiring resuscitation in the emergency room. From the day of the incident until 11/29/20, the baby suffered from a deep coma, convulsions, received aggressive medical treatment and was in intensive care. Due to the defendant's false report, the medical team had difficulty discovering what caused the serious damage to the baby, and was therefore forced to perform unnecessary diagnostic tests that caused considerable suffering to the baby and his parents. As part of the medical team's numerous attempts to medically diagnose the factors that led to the baby's serious condition, the doctors asked the baby's mother to inquire with the daycare center for precise details about the day of the incident. The baby's mother contacted the defendant, who hid what had happened from her. Later, the defendant also spoke with the baby's mother and did not give her details about the incident. On 3.12.20, the baby was transferred to rehabilitation and required close supervision. In the detention request, Attorney Benita wrote: "...the respondents, as caregivers of infants and children, blatantly violated the trust placed in them by the parents of an 8-month-old baby, who entrusted to them what was most precious to them. Their dangerousness... stems from the fact that, while being responsible for the baby's well-being, the respondents made a conscious choice to hide the serious consequences of Respondent 1's negligent actions.... During the two and a quarter hour period, in which the respondents prevented A from receiving adequate medical treatment, they inflicted additional injuries on him beyond the damage he sustained while he was in a closed vehicle. During that entire period of time, the respondents could have preferred the baby's best interests, but they preferred to absolve themselves of responsibility, thereby causing a further deterioration in his medical condition... The respondents acted while concealing information and deliberately providing false information to the baby's parents, who begged them to receive from them any piece of information that could assist in the baby's medical treatment. These actions show that there is a reasonable basis for fear that the respondents' release would lead to obstruction of justice and establish an additional ground for detention...""