A NURSERY worker raped and sexually abused five toddlers in what has been described as “every parent’s worst nightmare”, a court heard.
Nathan Bennett is accused of preying on children at Partou King Street nursery in Bristol for a year.
The 30-year-old has pleaded guilty to 13 charges involving five children aged two or three, jurors heard.
But he denies 11 further charges including rape, sexual assault and assault by penetration.
Jurors were told Bennett’s guilty pleas were to the “less serious” charges on the indictment and he faces trial for the more serious alleged offences.
Bristol Crown Court heard some of the evidence of his “predatory behaviour” comes from CCTV from inside the nursery.
Prosecutor Virginia Cornwall said: “We are concerned with events at a nursery here in Bristol, and the events that were to unfold on February 26 last year are you may think every parent’s nightmare.
“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.”
Jurors heard Bennett, who had started working in the nursery in July 2024, had by his guilty pleas “an admitted sexual interest in pre-school boys”.
Ms Cornwall said he was able to “exploit a sexual interest”, which he “had access to, by his employment as an early years practitioner”.
She added the CCTV evidence shows he is a “risk taker” who “took opportunities that he either engineered or were presented to him within the nursery setting to abuse”.
The prosecutor added: “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.”
Nursery manager Victoria Tutton, who was known as Vera, said Bennett would “favour” certain children, preferring to read them stories or sit with them.
She said a local authority safeguarding concern was raised about Bennett in early February after a complaint from a parent about his “interaction” with their child.
The court heard on February 26, Bennett was seen on CCTV groping a child so was sent home by Ms Tutton.
Another nursery worker, Elizabeth Burton, said in a written statement she began to witness “strange behaviours” by Bennett.
She added: “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,” Ms Burton added.
The court heard the nursery closed after police launched an investigation.
Bennett denies two charges of raping a child under 13, four of sexually assaulting a child under 13 and two charges of assault of a child under 13 by penetration.
He has further pleaded not guilty to three counts of engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a child.
Bennett has admitted eight counts of sexual assault of a child under 13, four of causing a child under 13 to engage in sexual activity and one count of engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a child.
The trial continues.
