For four long years, the parents of the children from a daycare in northern Israel waited for the worker who abused their kids to be caught after she had fled the country following revelations of the atrocities committed at the facility.
Over the weekend, Irena Shkirova - who abused the children at the daycare she owned in Tirat Carmel - and fled to Georgia before authorities could act, was extradited to Israel. On Sunday, she was finally indicted.
The charges attributed to Shkirova include "acts of physical and mental abuse of toddlers, multiple acts of violence and assault of minors."
According to the indictment, Shkirova beat some of the toddlers and caused them bruises, fed them aggressively while they were choking and crying, and tied them to chairs with diaper cloth.
The abuse by Shikrova was first exposed back in February 2018 following several complaints from the parents. In one of the videos that the Israel Police obtained from the daycare, Shikrova was seen feeding a child by force and shoving food into his mouth until the infant bled badly.
During the hearing, one of the mothers addressed Shikrova and said: "Look at me very carefully, you will pay for everything."
Another mother said: "All these years we have waited for her to make a mistake. She went on a vacation and was caught thanks to the extradition treaty between Israel and Georgia. My son is already in second grade, and yet, we are experiencing some difficult situations."
"D," a father of one of the abused kids, who is now a second-grader, said: "I hope we have come here to get closure, and that justice will be served and she will receive the proper punishment for her acts."