The court holds a daycare center in Huizen responsible for the death of a two-year-old boy in 2023. The toddler drowned in a ditch near the daycare. According to the judge, the daycare should have provided a safe play environment.
The two-year-old boy was found in the water on April 3, 2023. At the time of the drowning, the daycare was responsible for the care of the boy. According to the judge, the employees of the daycare should have ensured that the boy could not leave the premises on his own.
The children of the daycare can play under supervision on a schoolyard and in an adjacent vegetable garden. The gates of the yard and the vegetable garden were not locked. Also, the boy had already entered the vegetable garden twice without supervision that morning. This happened more often: months earlier, the toddler was found outside the premises twice.
The court rules that the employees knew that the boy could open the gates independently and that they should have been locked.
The foundation behind the daycare center will be fined 30,000 euros, of which 25,000 euros are conditional. The judge agrees with the demand of the Public Prosecution Service (OM), which accuses the foundation of manslaughter.
The foundation is being prosecuted as a legal entity. This means that the three supervisors who were working at the time of the drowning are not being prosecuted. The director had to answer as the legal representative of the legal entity, but is not being prosecuted himself either. The daycare has now been closed.