It is 6:30 p.m. when, on November 30, 2022, Amélie* picks up her son Arthur*, aged 7 and a half months, from the People & Baby “Bouton d’Or” crèche in Metz, Moselle.
She and her husband have been dropping Arthur off there every Wednesday since the beginning of September, while waiting to get a place in a public crèche.
That day, nine children are cared for for ten available cradles.
At 5:30 p.m., two professionals are on duty to take care of the five children still present.
“
I find my son with a deep scratch in his left ear, a reddened arcade, a bloody eye and a bump on his forehead
,” reports the young mother to
Figaro.
Shocked, she immediately inquires with the staff.
The answer would have been pithy: “
He woke up from the nap like that
”.
Contacted, the People & Baby crèche ensures for its part that the nannies advised Amélie to consult a doctor for the onset of conjunctivitis, three other children having, over the same period, developed this type of infection.
"Night of anguish"
Amélie, a personal injury lawyer, claims to have immediately gone to a general practitioner who wrote a medical certificate, which
Le Figaro
was able to consult.
This indicates that the child, on November 30, 2022 at 7 p.m., presented with “
inflammation of the left conjunctiva
”, “
slightly purulent ocular discharge
” as well as a “
small subpalpebral edema
”.
The eye, on the other hand, is “
normal in size
”, the “
eardrums normal bilaterally
” and the child does not have a fever.
The same day, at 9:30 p.m., Amélie takes her son urgently to an ophthalmologist.
After carrying out a biomicroscopic examination, he notes a "
nasal chemosis with conjunctival hemorrhage
", that is to say a conjunctival edema which forms a bead around the cornea.
On the other hand, “
no retinal hemorrhage, the vitreous is transparent and the optic nerve normal
”
.
“
The hypothesis of a left nasal bulbar contusion is probable
”, adds the specialist.
"
I spent a night of anguish crying and making all sorts of scenarios, I couldn't sleep
," breathes the mother.
“
Even if it's a slap, even if it fell on the head, I can hear it, but I want to know what happened.
The uncertainty of what could have happened to my child is worse than anything
, ”said the 30-year-old, saying that she plans to stop working to keep her child.
She filed a complaint for “violence against a minor” at the Metz police station on December 9, 2022, confirmed with Le
Figaro
the public prosecutor of Metz, Yves Badorc.
An investigation is underway "
to determine in particular the origin of the lesions observed on the child's eye and
“, specifies the parquet floor.
A month later, on December 19, 2022, the parents of little Arthur will consult a forensic doctor from the medico-judicial unit of the Metz-Thionville regional hospital center.
The child's father then explains that, in the days following this event at the crèche, Arthur showed a change in behavior "
with recurring episodes of crying and jumping as well as a change of character, now showing himself to be more fearful
".
“
He's used to noise because we often have friends over, and then we play music regularly.
Since then, the slightest noise frightens him and with each sneeze, he cries
, ”reports to
Figaro
Amélie.
If the practitioner notes "
normal conjunctival transparency without corneal deficit
", "
unremarkable tympanic transparency
" and "
very satisfactory muscle tone
", he also says that Arthur has identified "
recent bodily lesions involving the left eye and auricular region
" which are "
compatible with a recent traumatic mechanism, of a blunt nature
" and leaving "
suppose a repetition of action
”.
The nursery was not informed of the opening of an investigation
In parallel with these consultations, the parents are demanding explanations from the establishment, which claims to have questioned the two childcare workers separately.
They are indignant at not having been informed by the crèche when their son woke up from a nap with a red eye.
However, People & Baby claims to have taken photos when the child woke up and immediately sent them to the parents via the “Crèche Connect” application.
The various shots were consulted by
Le Figaro
.
Unlike the photo taken at 7:25 p.m. by the mother, where we can indeed observe that the inner part of the child's left eye is covered with blood, the portraits of the infant transmitted by the daycare at 5:40 p.m. simply show a slightly red eye.
Concerning the scratches on the ear, if these are indeed present on the photos taken by the mother at 10:16 p.m. on November 30,
Le Figaro
is not able to confirm that these scratches were already visible when the little boy was entrusted to childcare workers, as the crèche nevertheless assures.
In a press release, People & Baby evokes a “
possible domestic accident
” and underlines that it immediately launched an internal investigation.
“
After studying the internal report and hearing all the professionals of the crèche and the director (...) we confirm that on Wednesday November 30, when he woke up from a nap at 5.30 p.m., a little boy had a red eye.
The team of professionals reacted perfectly and took photos for immediate transmission to the parents
”, specifies the establishment, adding that a telephone exchange with the parents of the child took place on December 15.
Read alsoDeath of a girl in a nursery in Lyon: three months of administrative closure for the establishment
“
The teams interviewed and responsible for the child unanimously and formally confirm that there was no shock, fall or redness of the eye before the nap
”, adds the establishment, also specifying that the small scratch in the ear was already present when the little boy arrived in the morning.
“
At this time, no preliminary investigative information has been received by People & Baby Group
,” we were told.
The establishment "
formally disputes all the statements made by the parents
" and reserves the right to file a complaint against the parents for defamation.
*Name has been changed
