Former Nurse and Caregiver at Gyumri “Children’s Home” Regularly Subjected Children to Physical Abuse
On January 3, 2025, the prosecutor approved the indictment against N.M., a former nurse, and R.H., a caregiver at the Gyumri “Children’s Home” SNCO, and submitted the case materials to the competent court. The criminal proceedings revealed that during 2024, N.M. and R.H., taking advantage of the fact that the beneficiaries of the SNCO were unable to defend their interests due to helplessness stemming from illness, psychophysiological characteristics, age, physical weakness, and other reasons, repeatedly inflicted blows and committed other violent actions against the children during their shifts.
On December 17, 2024, the prosecutor initiated public criminal prosecution against R.H. under Article 196, Part 2, Clauses 3 and 6 of the Criminal Code for causing severe physical pain or mental suffering to minors (in 3 episodes) and against N.M. under the same article for 4 episodes.
On January 3, 2025, the approved indictment concerning R.M. and N.M. was submitted to the competent court along with the case materials.
It should be noted that on August 15, the director of the “Children’s Home” SNCO reported that the caregiver and nurse had demonstrated cruel treatment towards young children. Between March 7 and March 15, 2024, and also on August 11, the nurse exhibited criminal behavior towards 7-10-year-old children with “Rubinstein-Taybi syndrome” and “Down syndrome” by dragging and beating them. As a preventive measure, house arrest and a travel ban were imposed on the nurse and caregiver.