“It feels as though there’s no one fighting for us. It’s as if there’s no one advocating for our child.”
Those words come from a father in Múlaborg, whose child is believed to have been physically abused by an employee at the local kindergarten.
His frustration is directed at both the police and the city officials handling the investigation. Last week, he received a letter from the district attorney stating that the prosecution would not be pursuing further action in his child’s case.
He says at least four other parents received the same notification. The accused employee, in his thirties, faces charges of rape and sexual assault against a girl in the same department where he worked. At one point, he was suspected of offenses against as many as ten children.
The man has been charged with serious sexual offenses against a child.
Photograph/Colourbox
A Lack of Clarity
The father, who asked to remain anonymous given the sensitivity of the case, says what stings most is that no one has explained why the prosecution was halted.
“An hour after I received the letter, I called the prosecutor’s office, and they assured me that the person who signed it would return my call. That call never came,” he says.
He has been told that only one case against the employee will go forward, with the others considered unlikely to result in a conviction. He struggles to accept that reasoning — especially for his own child, where he believes the evidence of physical abuse is straightforward.
For a time, the employee faced allegations concerning over ten children.
mbl.is/Eyþór
Revisiting a Disturbing Account
The father describes how suspicion first took shape. His child began making comments — before the arrest — suggesting the employee had caused them distress. At the time, neither parent fully grasped what those words meant.
After receiving guidance on how to talk with children about these matters, they sat and listened as their child described specific incidents, including being physically restrained by the employee. It was a shock.
The child’s mother gave this account during a police interview. About a month later, the child repeated the details during questioning at a children’s facility. The parents were permitted to be present at the employee’s hearing relating to their child. The father recalls that the worker admitted to grabbing the child’s sweater but denied the rest.
Feeling Abandoned
When the father thinks about the decision to drop the case, he comes back to the same thought:
“It’s as though there’s no one fighting for us. There’s no one fighting for our child.”
He is critical of how long the process has taken. Parents flagged suspicious behaviour to the police, yet the employee was not brought in for questioning for a month and a half. Through all of it, the family felt kept in the dark.
“It’s shockingly inhumane and impersonal. It’s baffling that they can’t interact with these parents in a more human manner,” he says.
Much of what the family learned about the case came through media coverage rather than from officials. They did not find out until later that the man was suspected of two counts of rape.
Vulnerable Moments in Care
The father has broader concerns too — about Reykjavík and the conditions at Múlaborg specifically. He points to the pressures created by the shortened working week and understaffing in newly opened departments.
In that environment, caretakers were sometimes left alone with children during sensitive moments — trips to the restroom, rest periods. The very employee now facing charges was, he says, supervising children in isolation during exactly those times.
