A 46-year-old childcare worker at Delaware Technical Community College’s Stanton campus in Newark is facing a criminal charge after police say she picked up a 3-year-old boy by the neck, leaving him crying and bruised. Authorities have identified the employee as Neha Gour of Hockessin. Investigators say Gour turned herself in at the end of June and was arraigned on a third-degree child-abuse charge, after the child’s mother spotted injuries, sought medical care and set a criminal probe in motion.
What investigators say
According to the Delaware State Police, detectives opened the investigation in late April after the child’s mother took him for treatment and reported bruising. The inquiry led them to the Stanton Childhood Development Center on the Stanton campus, where detectives concluded that Gour picked the 3-year-old up by the neck, put him in a chair, and later grabbed his wrist to pull him to another area of the classroom.
Police say an arrest warrant followed. Gour then surrendered on June 30, was charged with Child Abuse in the Third Degree, arraigned, and released on her own recognizance, according to the same state police release.
Legal process and penalties
Under Delaware law, child abuse in the third degree can be treated as a felony in certain situations, including when the victim is under 6 years old. That designation increases the potential penalties and can change how prosecutors approach the case. FindLaw publishes the section of the Delaware code that defines third-degree child abuse and spells out when it is classified as a felony.
Campus center and next steps
The incident unfolded at a facility that is barely out of its ribbon-cutting phase. Delaware Tech opened the Stanton Childhood Development Center in January as an on-campus early-learning site for students, staff and nearby families. The college highlighted the January opening and the center’s role as a community resource in its own announcement of the project, as noted by Delaware Technical Community College.
Local coverage has echoed law-enforcement accounts of Gour’s arraignment and release on recognizance. NBC10 Philadelphia reports that, as of the time of arraignment, no additional court dates were listed in public releases.
