Childcare workers who assaulted toddler avoid conviction

Friday, 22 May 2026 14:20

Two childcare workers who pleaded guilty to assaulting a misbehaving toddler have avoided conviction.

Two former childcare workers have escaped conviction despite admitting to yanking a toddler by their arm and pushing the same child against a wall.

Julie Gay Minter, 55, and Bhawna Joshi, 28, admitted to assaulting an 18-month-old in their care at a western Sydney childcare centre in October 2025.

Minter ripped a basket out of the child's hand and dragged him into an upright position by his right arm, forcing him to stand on his tiptoes.

Both carers were originally charged with five counts of common assault apiece.

Her colleague Joshi later backed the same toddler into a wall, pushing him into it.

The woman was seen on CCTV after a parent dropping off her child witnessed an incident involving Minter and reported it to the childcare centre.

Both carers were originally charged with five counts of common assault apiece.

But the prosecution withdrew all but one charge for each woman, for which they pleaded guilty, in separate proceedings at Sydney's Blacktown Local Court on Wednesday and today.

The victim had reportedly been misbehaving, but was acting in an age-appropriate manner, court documents show.

Judges handed Minter and Joshi two-year community release orders, essentially good behaviour bonds, without criminal convictions.

"Becoming annoyed with children who are behaving unpredictably requires patience, skill and care and needs to be learned", Judge James Howard told Joshi.

"You have responsibility and care for children ... allowing that to happen is of some concern."

Both workers were fired after being charged - Minter, who worked in childcare for 20 years, will not return to the industry.

In today's proceedings, Judge Kirk Dailly took Minter's loss of employment into account, emphasising the 55-year-old's "dedication to (her) own family and the children of others".

"Children will still be children, and they will still ruffle the feathers of parents and even childcare workers every now and then," Dailly said.

A sign of Little Zak's Academy, a childcare centre in Doonside.

"It was overstepping the mark slightly and shouldn't have been done."

The centre which employed the women, Little Zak's Academy in Doonside, closed weeks after the allegations came to light and has not reopened.

That centre made more headlines after a parent alleged their autistic son was locked in a storage shed by another worker in a separate incident not involving Minter or Joshi.

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