By Grâçia Ada Obi
A nursery worker sexually abused five toddlers in his care in what has been described as “every parent’s nightmare,” a court heard.
Nathan Bennett, 30, denies 11 charges, including rape, sexual assault and assault by penetration, relating to the Partou King Street nursery in Bristol.
Bristol Crown Court heard Bennett had previously pleaded guilty to 13 other charges involving five children aged two or three.
Virginia Cornwall, prosecuting, told the jury some of the evidence against Bennett comes from CCTV from inside the nursery.
“We are concerned with events at a nursery (pictured) here in Bristol, and the events that were to unfold on February 26 last year are you may think every parent’s nightmare,” Miss Cornwall said.
“A person entrusted to be responsible for your child, care for your child, nurture your child, at times when you are unable to provide that parental care, that abuses that position, that trust, that role, and sexually abuses your child.
“There is no issue in this case that this man has sexually abused five of the small boys who were at that nursery.
“He has admitted his sexual interest, that the Crown says, he has in pre-school age boys, toddlers, essentially two and three years of age, by his partial guilty pleas to some of the charges in this case.”
Miss Cornwall explained that Bennett’s guilty pleas were to the “less serious” charges on the indictment and he faces trial for the more serious alleged offences.
She said that Bennett, who had started working in the nursery in July 2024, had by his guilty pleas “an admitted sexual interest in pre-school boys”.
“The Crown suggests he was able to exploit a sexual interest, and had access to, by his employment as an early years practitioner,” she said.
Bennett “presented as suitable” and had experience working in other pre-school settings, the prosecutor said.
“The evidence that you are going to be viewing via CCTV will show that he is many things, including a risk taker,” she said.
“He took opportunities that he either engineered or were presented to him within the nursery setting to abuse.
“You may think, with children as young as two or three, who are understandably trusting of an adult who they have a familiarity with.
“As you will see from the footage, he actively encourages that familiarity.
“He’s tactile, he’s attentive, you will see that there’s hair ruffling, there’s touching, there’s closeness, the sorts of things that little children perhaps respond to – making them feel special and safe with him.
“They were not to understand what his interest was in them, or why he was doing what he was doing.
“A child of that age simply would not comprehend would they that it was sexual or necessarily wrong.”
Miss Cornwall said some of the CCTV would show Bennett’s predatory behaviour towards young children.
“His system demonstrates a certain level of predation, which I hope is not too emotive a term, but as a justified expression because of his repetitive conduct,” she said.
“It was not something that others were aware of, there were concerns from some colleagues about his proprietorial attitude towards certain children.
“But it was not until February 26 that anyone thought that he was sexually touching anyone.
“There was nurturing, there is grooming.”
The jury was told the nursery closed after police launched an investigation.
Nursery manager Victoria Tutton, who was known as Vera, said Bennett would “favour” certain children, preferring to read them stories or sit with them.
“Me and the staff could see that Nathan had stronger relationships with some children than others,” she said in a written statement.
In her statement she said a local authority safeguarding concern was raised about Bennett in early February, after a complaint from a parent about the defendant’s “interaction” with their child.
On February 26, Ms Tutton said she witnessed Bennett on CCTV putting his hand down the trousers of a child, and immediately sent him home.
“I took him into the meeting room and I said, ‘I just saw something on the camera that made me feel really uncomfortable.
“I took him into the meeting room and I said, ‘I just saw something on the camera that made me feel really uncomfortable. I need you to leave the site now and HR will be in touch’,” she said.
Nursery practitioner Elizabeth Burton said in a written statement she began to witness “strange behaviours” by Bennett.
“One of the other things I witnessed myself was how much physical contact he would constantly require with the children,” she said.
“He seemed to have a group of five children that he had a jealous attachment with. He would take control of them.
“His behaviour would be over-affectionate with them, as well as having them sat on his lap, he would kiss them on the face, like on the cheek or forehead.”
She said Bennett would wear the same pair of trousers to work, which were full of holes, including the crotch area.
“I would not wear them to work because they were not suitable and I tried to encourage him to buy a new pair,” she added.
Bennett, of Corston, Bath, denies the following charges:
Two charges of raping a child under 13.
Four charges of the sexual assault of a child under 13.
Two charges of assault of a child under 13 by penetration.
Three charges of engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a child.
He has previously pleaded guilty to 13 other charges. They were:
Eight charges of sexual assault of a child under 13.
Four charges of causing a child under 13 to engage in sexual activity.
One charge of engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a child.
The trial continues.
