Two daycare employees charged with assault in Calgary, police say

Two employees of a Calgary daycare have been charged with assault after parents found physical markings on their child and notified police.

Officers say the alleged abuse took place inside Kidzee Early Learning and Childcare in the city's northeast.

The licensed facility has been closed since early January, just a few weeks after abuse allegations were originally brought forward.

Some of the allegations against staff include shaking, slapping and confinement for hours on end without food, activity or attention.

Police say their Child at Risk Response Team conducted numerous interviews and reviewed hundreds of hours of CCTV footage before arresting the two employees on April 27.

"They committed assault on these children," Staff Sgt. Brad Moore told CTV News.

"It wasn't just a little bit of a shake. There were marks."

Rita Niure, 29, and Mursal Akbari, 31, are charged with one count each of assault.

Both are scheduled to appear in court Thursday.

Moore says the incident is unfortunate, as the large majority of childcare employees do their jobs well.

"We put a lot a lot of trust in these workers to look after these kids," he said.

"But unless you've got hands on or eyes on immediately with these types of things, they can go undetected for a long period of time."

He says Kidzee Early Learning and Childcare is permanently closed.

With files from The Canadian Press