A NURSERY teacher was secretly captured on video allegedly hitting and spraying a liquid in a three-year-old girl’s face, launching a criminal enquiry.
The little girl is heard screaming “mummy!” as she’s horrifically targeted by the teacher in a school in Paris.
The video – which has been made public by a lawyer – has caused shock and outrage across the country.
The alleged assault happened last Tuesday on the first day of the academic year at a school in France‘s capital.
An unidentified female teacher can be seen standing over the screaming and crying little girl before hitting her on the back – causing her to fall to the floor.
Vanessa Edberg, a lawyer representing the girl’s parents who posted the film on X, said on Tuesday: “It wasn’t a spanking. She hit her on the back. What happened is extremely serious.”
It is also alleged that the teacher grabbed a small bottle and “sprayed an unidentified product on her face” Ms Edberg added.
Saying that the girl and the rest of her family were “extremely traumatised,” Ms Edberg said a complaint had been sent to cops and prosecutors.
She said the incident was secretly recorded by another child’s mother, who was in the classroom for the whole of the day.
The girl’s dad told Le Parisien: “My daughter had been hit before, that’s why she was having a crisis and the mother who was there decided to film discreetly.”
After receiving the blow, the little girl was sent to the corner and continued to scream “mummy!”
The teacher also tells the girl: “You’ll see, your dad will come back when I tell him.”
The parents didn’t initially know about the footage but the woman who captured the alleged abuse handed it over after a couple of days.
The dad continued by saying how they went “straight to file a complaint”, and also said his son had also been “pushed by this teacher” when he was at the school two years ago.
The teacher was on Tuesday said to be “on sick leave” while waiting to be interviewed by law and order authorities, said a school spokesman.
“The teacher acknowledged the facts and apologised to the family,” said the spokesman.
Aggravated assault on a child under 15 is an offence in France that can lead to prison time.
Philippe Goujon, the Mayor of the 15th arrondissement in Paris, said: “This happened the day after the start of the school year.
“The teacher was arrested and immediately replaced.”
