A childcare worker who subjected three young boys to more than 80 acts of violence at a centre in Far North Queensland has been sentenced to four years in prison.
Edwina Ling was filmed kicking, slapping and shaking the children during a three-day period at Injinoo Childcare Centre, at the tip of Cape York, in late August and early September 2024.
The youngest child, aged 13 months, was the victim of 55 of the assaults. His parents, who cannot be identified under laws protecting their son, have released the CCTV footage in the hope it will prompt changes to child safety procedures.
Childcare worker filmed assaulting boys
The footage shows Ling grabbing the toddler by the head and neck before pushing him into a standing activity centre. In separate incidents, she pressed his face into a pillow, kicked him across the floor and threw objects on top of him.
She was also seen shaking the boy, pulling him up by one arm, slapping him in the face and covering his head with a pillow.
“You just can’t imagine how someone can be so cruel to babies,” the child’s mother said.
The family was not told the extent of what had happened until 12 September 2024, when they were informed that an educator had used excessive force against children and had been dismissed. They learned the following day that the worker was Ling and that their son had been assaulted.
“I just burst out crying. I just couldn’t believe that that actually happened, and it was our child,” the mother said.
She was also told that her son had gone an entire day without being fed. Ling had reportedly placed food in front of him but refused to feed him while he cried.
The mother said she had previously noticed marks on her son and asked Ling whether he was all right. Ling allegedly told her the injuries had been caused by another child who had been pinning children down, scratching and biting them.
Concerns raised at Injinoo Childcare Centre
Concerns about Ling’s conduct were raised by Brancis Tamwoy-Mookaa, who had been filling in as director at the centre. She heard complaints from other educators and became more suspicious after Ling refused to hand over a crying baby.
Tamwoy-Mookaa later noticed red marks on the child’s skin which appeared consistent with fingernail scratches. On her final day at the centre, she left a note asking management to review CCTV from the baby room.
Ling remained at the centre for almost another week before she was dismissed.
She had joined NPA Family and Community Services, which ran the centre, in 2022 as a casual cleaner and later worked as a cook. In July 2024, she was moved into the baby room as an educator despite not having completed basic childcare qualifications.
Ling sentenced over assaults
In June 2026, Ling pleaded guilty to 80 counts of common assault and two counts of assault occasioning bodily harm. District Court Judge Dean Morzone KC described her conduct as “monstrous, cruel and sadistic” and a gross breach of trust.
She will be eligible for parole after serving 12 months.
NPA chair Ugari Nona said the organisation acted swiftly after learning of the abuse by notifying parents, police and the regulator. Queensland Police said the report that led to their investigation had been made by a member of the public on 13 September, after Ling had left the centre.
The boy’s parents said accountability should extend beyond Ling to the systems that allowed the abuse to go undetected.
“It’s not just about our kid or that one childcare centre. It’s far bigger than that,” the boy’s father said. “So many centres fall outside [the system], and it affects so many kids. It’ll just keep happening if we don’t speak up.”
