The Case of Joshua Paul
We were deeply saddened to hear the case of shaken baby Joshua Paul in the press recently, and we wanted to offer our thoughts on this desperately sad event from the perspective of a nanny agency.
For those unfamiliar with the story, 34 year old Viktoria Tautz was employed as a £3.60 an hour nanny to look after the ten-month-old baby in Haringey, North London in 2014.
Joshua’s mother, Pearl, left her son with his nanny on the morning of August 29th to go to work, but at 9.07am a neighbour made a 999 call after the nanny was seen shouting for help outside the flat with an unconscious baby in her arms. Three days later, Joshua died at Great Ormond Street Hospital, from what the court described as ‘catastrophic brain and spinal injuries.’
Tautz, a Hungarian student employed through an online childcare site, could not explain the baby’s injuries, which included brain haemorrhage, detached retinas and a bruised spinal cord.
The nanny, who was in sole charge of Joshua when he sustained his injuries, was sentenced to four years in prison for shaking the baby in a ‘fit of anger’ - despite her claims that Joshua’s injuries were the result of a horse-riding game at the family home.
The prosecuting judge rejected Tautz’s suggestion, stating that the head wobbling involved in such a game would not have been anywhere near vigorous enough to kill a child. Baby Joshua was born ten weeks prematurely and was being monitored for having a large head for his age, but this condition was ruled out as a cause of death.
A mitigating QC claimed that the nanny was ‘young’ for her 34 years, and ‘with a very limited amount of training with a baby who obviously had very difficult needs.’ He also told the court that the nanny lacked resilience.
We have written before about the pitfalls of using online nanny ‘agencies’ and finding nannies and childminders through childcare advertising sites, but we feel it is necessary in the light of this tragedy to state our message again. Employing an agency-approved nanny means that your chosen caregiver has been vetted and appraised rigorously, from checking and verifying past employer’s references to obtaining DBS checks and making our own experienced judgements of suitability, resilience and personality. All of these procedures take place before a nanny is presented to you for interview. All paperwork checked; all qualifications verified.
Whether you are a parent considering using an agency for their nanny search, or a nanny looking for their next role, do get in touch with us and we will be delighted to talk you through the next steps. Give us a call on +44 (0)207 610 9218 or drop us an email on info@nanniesofstjames.com