Nursery teacher fined for racially harassing toddler

A nursery school teacher racially harassed a toddler by making monkey noises at him, then asked if his black father had taught him to steal, a court has heard. Lisa Ring, 37, directed the abuse towards an 18-month-old mixed-race boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons.

Harlow Magistrates' Court in Essex was told how the mother-of-two also blamed the child for an itch she had on her foot, saying she had been "bitten by fleas that came from his country".

When she removed her shoe the boy picked it up, prompting her to retort: Did your black daddy teach you to steal things?" The court heard she was reported by a 15-year-old schoolgirl who was doing work experience at the nursery in Essex when the incident happened last September.


Photo from here.

The work experience girl, who also cannot be named, told police that Ring, who had been a supervisor at the nursery for seven months, gave the boy a plastic banana and said "that's what you like to eat". She then started making monkey noises in his face and making monkey gestures.

When another member of staff in the room asked her to stop, Ring laughed and said the boy didn't understand it and that it was "just a bit of fun."

She told one of her teachers and, following a police inquiry, Ring, from Haverhill in Suffolk, was charged with racially aggravated harassment. She denied the charge but was found guilty by the court and fined £500 with £455 costs.