Video of a nanny violently beating an 18-month year old toddler and throwing her to the floor in Uganda has gone viral after the child’s father posted the footage to Facebook. Eric Kamanzi grew suspicious of Jolly Tumuhirwe, 22, when he noticed bruises on his daughter’s body after being in the nanny’s care. Kamanzi and his wife noticed their daughter limping on two occasions but the nanny couldn’t explain where the bruises came from or what caused the limping. That’s when Kamanzi installed a nanny cam in the home.
When Kamanzi rolled back the nanny cam footage, what he saw enraged him. The graphic video shows Tumuhirwe hitting the 18-month-old girl, Arnella Kamanzi, when she resists force-feeding with a spoon, then throwing her to the tile floor, beating her with a torch, before stepping on her and kicking her. The father handed the footage over to the police on November 13.
Kamanzi confronted the nanny and reportedly assaulted her but no charges were filed against him. The nanny was charged with attempted murder. The dad shared the nanny-cam footage with his Facebook friends and from there it spread rapidly across social media.
The video was viewed more than 21 million times on Facebook, according to the BBC. The footage raised debates on whether Kamanzi should have made the video public.
“Personally, I prefer my privacy but I’m sure I helped a lot of people out there and on that note I’m happy that the video is out there,” Kamanzi told BBC.
Kamanzi says his daughter is now physically well. The nanny will face charges for attempted murder December 8 and is currently being held in Luzira Prison.
The disturbing video appears below along with advice from Ugandan police official Patrick Onyango to “[take] great care while selecting domestic helpers.” Local officials recommend that families do background checks before they let anyone in their home to care for their children. In this case, the nanny had been in the house for less than a month.