Statements taken from parents after abuse allegations

Parents have come forward to make statements against a babysitter who is currently being investigated for abusing infants, police said on Tuesday, with one allegation against her being that she threatened families into silence.

So far, the parents of four babies reported they had hired the babysitter to look after their infant, and when they next saw their child, the infants had marks on their face.

In one case, a six-month-old baby suffered a hematoma and had to be treated at Makarios hospital.

Police spokesman Christos Andreou told the Cyprus Mail that apart from the four reports made from four different parents, one of the families made an additional complaint that the babysitter allegedly threatened them not to report her.

Last month, the police chief ordered a special unit to investigate the claims which had numbered three instances of infant abuse in the span of one year. The force had urged any other parents to come forward, including one family which had initially refused to give a statement.

According to Andreou, the babysitter will be called by Nicosia police soon to give her own version of events.

Despite the fact that there are difficulties linked to these cases due to the fact that the children cannot speak for themselves, the recurring theme of marks and bruising on the infants has yielded strong suspicions, Andreou underscored.

It appears the babysitter did not have the necessary licence from the welfare services. Her application for a license had been reportedly rejected almost two years later.