Shocking CCTV footage shows daycare centre worker assaulting child

WARNING: DISTRESSING CONTENT 

Disturbing CCTV footage has captured a childcare worker kicking, slapping and shaking three little boys during more than 80 assaults while they were in her care. 

Edwina Ling subjected the boys to a three-day spree of violence at Injinoo Childcare Centre, located at the tip of Cape York in Far North Queensland, in late August and early September 2024. 

The shocking abuse was caught on camera, with the youngest victim – just 13 months old – suffering 55 of the 80 assaults. 

His parents, who cannot be identified due to laws protecting the identity of the boy, have made the disturbing footage public in hopes it will trigger reform. 

The footage, obtained by an ABC Four Corners investigation into child safety in childcare across Australia, showed Ling grabbing the little boy by the head and neck. 

She is seen violently pushing him into a standing activity centre, and later presses his face into a pillow, kicks him across the floor and throws items on top of him.

In other videos, Ling is seen shaking the little boy, pulling him up by his arm, slapping him in the face and covering his head with a pillow. 

‘You just can’t imagine how someone can be so cruel to babies,’ his mother told ABC’s Four Corners.  

The horrifying CCTV footage showed Ling committing more 80 acts of physical abuse – 55 of which were against a 13-month-old boy 

The family were unaware of the extent of the abuse until September 12, 2024, when they were informed that an educator had used excessive force against children and had been dismissed.

The following day, they learned the educator was Ling and were told what she had done to their son.

‘I just burst out crying. I just couldn’t believe that that actually happened, and it was our child,’ his mother said.

She also recalled being told her son had gone an entire day without being fed, with Ling reportedly placing food in front of him but refusing to feed him while he cried. 

The mother said she had previously noticed marks on her son and asked Ling whether everything was alright. 

Ling told the mother that the marks had been caused by another child who had been pinning children down, scratching and biting them. 

Brancis Tamwoy-Mookaa filled in as director at the centre and it was her observations which raised concerns about Ling’s behaviour. 

Tamwoy-Mookaa heard complaints about Ling’s behaviour from other educators at the centre and her suspicions deepened when Ling refused to hand over a crying baby.

She later noticed red marks on the child’s skin that appeared consistent with fingernail scratches. 

On her final day at the centre, she left a note urging management to check the CCTV footage in the baby room.

The footage was obtained by the ABC’s Four Corners during an investigation into child safety in childcare across Australia 

Ling remained at the centre for almost another week before her dismissal. 

In June 2026, Ling was sentenced to four years in prison after pleading guilty to 80 counts of common assault and two counts of assault occasioning bodily harm. 

District Court Judge Dean Morzone KC described her offending as ‘monstrous, cruel and sadistic’ and a gross breach of trust. 

She will be eligible for parole after serving just 12 months.

Ling joined NPA Family and Community Services, the organisation that ran the Injinoo centre, in 2022 as a casual cleaner before working as a cook. 

In July 2024 she was moved into the baby room as an educator despite not having completed basic childcare qualifications, Four Corners reported. 

NPA chair Ugari Nona said the organisation acted swiftly after learning of the abuse, notifying parents, police and the regulator.

Queensland Police told Four Corners the report that sparked their investigation had been made by a member of the public on September 13, after Ling had left the centre.

The little boy’s family believe that accountability should extend beyond Ling and address the framework which allowed the abuse to go undetected. 

‘What about the NPA allowing this to happen too? They had a duty of care … and the regulatory authorities … making sure [the centres] were all running at standard,’ the boy’s father said.  

‘It’s not just about our kid or that one childcare centre. It’s far bigger than that. So many centres fall outside [the system], and it affects so many kids. It’ll just keep happening if we don’t speak up.’