Crèche worker cleared of neglect after toddlers’ escape

A deputy crèche manager has been cleared of wilfully neglecting two toddlers who escaped and were found wandering by a stream.

Judge Hugh O’Donnell told Dún Laoghaire District Court the case against Joanne Witkowska, aged 34, of Wingfield Apartments, Stepaside, Co Dublin, was dismissed because of insufficient evidence.

Ms Witkowska was charged after an incident at the Giraffe Crèche at Belarmine, Stepaside, on July 23 last year when the children, a boy and a girl aged 18 months and 19 months, left a playground through a gate she had left open. They were found beside a stream running in a green area 170m from the creche by a local resident.