Sentenced to Prison: Justice for Victims of Kiryat Gat "Daycare of Horrors" After Hundreds of Brutal Abuse Cases

The Beersheba District Court has sentenced the caregivers from the "Daycare of Horrors" in Kiryat Gat. The ruling stated: "They attacked the toddlers every single day."

The Beersheba District Court sentenced Shita Amasho (34) to six and a half years in prison and Oriya Bidush (25) to 27 months in prison. Both were convicted of hundreds of instances of physical and mental abuse against the toddlers they were responsible for while working as caregivers at the Chabad daycare in Kiryat Gat, which became known as the "Daycare of Horrors."

The court also ordered the caregivers to pay compensation to the toddlers' parents: 160,000 NIS for Amasho and 40,000 NIS for Bidush.

Systematic Violence

According to reports, Judge Noa Haklai noted in the sentencing that "in the case before me, the Probation Service pointed out that the toddlers were harmed during a critical period, and the daycare, which should have been a protective place, became threatening. Both defendants chose to act in an offensive and violent manner." The judge ruled that "the Supreme Court has emphasized the need for harsher sentencing in a series of rulings."

"The defendants gravely betrayed the trust placed in them by the parents of the crime victims, who entrusted them with their most precious possessions. This was not a one-time lapse but systematic behavior. Every day they attacked the toddlers. They could have stopped their actions at any time. The acts only ceased thanks to the parents' complaints and the investigation that followed."