Kindergarten security guard held on suspicion of molesting 3 girls

A security guard locks the gates to the kindergarten in Yangpu where a fellow worker allegedly molested three girls. — Dong Jun

A security guard at a kindergarten in Shanghai's Yangpu district has been detained on suspicion of molesting three girls aged 5 and 6, police said yesterday.

The mother of one of the alleged victims said her daughter told her she and two other youngsters were molested by the guard after they went to buy ice cream last Saturday.

"The store is not far away so we became suspicious when the girls were gone for more than 10 minutes," the woman surnamed Zhang said.

"When we went to look for them we saw them coming out of a kindergarten," she said.

Back at home, the child told her mother that a man at the kindergarten had touched all three girls' private parts before letting them play on a slide.

"She said the man lured them into a room and then took their pants off. He caused great pain to my daughter," Zhang said.

Another mother, surnamed Yao, said her 6-year-old daughter has had frequent nightmares since the incident.

The girl's grandmother, surnamed Liu, said the child often played outside the Changxiang Arts kindergarten near their home. She said she was horrified when the youngster told her what had happened.

Immediately after hearing of the alleged assaults, relatives of the three families went to the kindergarten and tackled the 47-year-old guard over the allegations.

The man is said to have begged the relatives not to report him and even offered them a payoff. They declined and called the police who took the man in for questioning.

Wang Liping, the head of the privately owned school, said he had no idea that the security guard, who worked the night shift during the week and days at the weekend, was a risk to children.

"He is the husband of one of our other workers," Wang said.

In the future, the school will hire its guards only through a registered company, he said.

The district education authority said that the man is not an official employee.

The families of the alleged victims are migrant workers. They are now allegedly seeking compensation from the kindergarten of 700,000 yuan (US$112,000) per family.