Ex-daycare owner 'enraged,' testifies former employee
Celine Lang, 58, on trial on charges of assaulting 12 children and former employee
Former Memramcook daycare owner Celine Lang was described as "enraged" and "intimidating" by employees during testimony Wednesday as the Crown wrapped up its case in Lang's trial on charges of assaulting 12 children and an employee.
The defence is to begin presenting its case when court resumes Tuesday at 9:30 a.m.
Lang, 58, is on trial in Moncton's Court of Queen's Bench on 14 charges, including charges of assault against 12 children at her daycare, Couvée de la Vallée. She is also charged with assault and assault with a weapon — a flower pot — against an employee.
Christine McGraw Bourque, who worked at the Couvée de la Vallée daycare for a six-month period in 2014, said she felt the children were scared of Lang.
"She would walk in a room and the kids all changed, you could tell something was going on," said McGraw Bourque.
McGraw Bourque said she has a vivid memory of a three-year-old child crying after her parents dropped her off at daycare and Lang shaking the child aggressively by the shoulders and yelling at her.
Pamela Strong, who worked at the daycare in September 2014 also recalled the incident, calling Lang "enraged" as she allegedly shook the young child while yelling "You're going to shut up, shut up."
McGraw Bourque said she offered to buy the daycare from Lang, who turned down the offer.
"I wanted her to stop hurting children," said McGraw Bourque, adding she was planning to sell the building afterwards.
"That building ... I would've never put another child in there. It was too emotional."
Another former employee, Denise Doiron said that after she started working at the Couvée de la Vallée daycare, she gradually started noticing things that were "not normal."
"I wanted to install a camera, but I couldn't," said Doiron.
Doiron testified Lang allegedly once told employees a fabricated story and asked them to repeat it to cover up why one of the children had a bruise.
Defence lawyer Hazen Brien questioned why Doiron never intervened in any of the alleged incidents she said she witnessed over the 15 months she worked at the daycare.
"She was intimidating," said Doiron about Lang. "You never went against what she was saying. You couldn't."
The court also heard from a father who testified he went to the daycare to confront Lang after being told by his wife that Lang had tied their two-year-old son to a chair with a scarf.
"She told me my child was in crisis and that the only way to calm him down was to tie him to a chair," recalled the father. "If my child is uncontrollable, you call me, you don't tie him up."
There is a court-ordered ban on publication of any information that could identify the children involved the case, including the names of their parents.
The Crown called 17 witnesses, including seven parents and six former daycare workers.
Lang has always denied the accusations and pleaded not guilty to the charges.
The alleged incidents took place in 2014 at the Couvée de la Vallée in Memramcook.