Ex-daycare owner Celine Lang grilled by Crown about dousing boy with water
The former owner of a New Brunswick daycare who is accused of assaulting children was questioned at her trial today about why she thought throwing a glass of water at a child's face to "calm him down" was appropriate.
Celine Lang, 58, is on trial in the Court of Queen's Bench in Moncton on 10 charges of assaulting children at her Couvée de la Vallée daycare in the southeastern village of Memramcook. She is being tried in front of a judge alone.
Lang is also charged with assault and assault with a weapon — a flower pot — involving an employee.
When she was called to the witness box by defence lawyer Hazen Brien Tuesday, Lang talked at length about an incident where she threw a glass of water at a child's face when he was agitated because he had finished lunch early and wanted to go play.
"A child has to learn the rules of society," she testified.
Lang said it was the only thing to do in the situation because the boy was starting to have a hard time breathing, and his face had turned "lobster red" and his lips blue.
On Wednesday, Crown prosecutor Annie St-Jacques asked about the incident during cross-examination.
"In your first-aid classes is there somewhere it says that when a child is in crisis you throw a glass of water at him?"
"We tap him, we shock him, we can throw water in his face," said Lang.
"You saw that in your first-aid classes?" said St-Jacques.
"Yes," Lang responded.
"They tell you to throw water at a child's face?" St-Jacques asked.
"You use whatever way is at your disposal to shock the child, yes," said Lang.
"Where did you take those classes?" asked a smiling St-Jacques.
Lang never answered the question as her lawyer objected and the Crown moved on to another question.
St-Jacques then asked Lang why she called the school district, which oversees daycares, to report the incident afterwards but never told the boy's parents.
"I was worried there might be retaliation, I thought it might have been misinterpreted. I wasn't worried about what I had done … It's been 30 years I've been taking care of kids."
'Old-fashioned methods'
The defence called two mothers of children who attended the daycare to the witness box Wednesday afternoon. A publication ban is in place to protect the identities of the children involved in the case.
One of them said former employee Josée Delarosbil told her about assault allegations at the daycare in September 2014. The woman said she asked her two-year-old daughter whether Lang had ever hurt her and the girl said, "Yes, on my nose and bum."
The woman testified that her husband confronted Lang the next day and she responded, "The kids all say that, they just mean that it hurts when I blow their nose and wipe their bum."
The woman said she blamed Delarosbil for giving her false information.
The woman also testified she and Lang were on the same page when it came to how to get her daughter, who was having a hard time sleeping, to take a nap at daycare.
Lang's method, as she testified Tuesday, was to "immobilize" the child by having them lay on their stomach and she would place a hand on their back.
"I do feel that she has old-fashioned methods, but that there was no malice," the woman testified.
During cross-examination, Crown prosecutor Eric Lalonde asked the woman whether she was aware that Lang testified Tuesday that she also placed her hand on her daughter's head and covered it with a blanket,
"That's not the method we discussed. I'm not sure how I would feel about that," the woman responded.
The defence wrapped up its case Wednesday afternoon after calling five witnesses, including Lang and her husband Daniel.
Closing arguments in before Judge Jean-Paul Ouellette have been scheduled for Friday morning.
