UK teaching assistant jailed after abusing vulnerable children at Kent school

A teaching assistant in Kent has been jailed for four years after being found guilty of cruelty towards pupils at a school in Sittingbourne. Danuska Pullia , 47, from Iwade, was sentenced at Maidstone Crown Court on 8 May 2026 after a jury unanimously convicted her on all four counts of child cruelty in November last year.

Pullia worked with vulnerable children at the school between September 2021 and July 2023. Colleagues raised the alarm after witnessing her hit, pinch and spit at pupils. Their reports prompted a Kent Police investigation that ultimately led to her prosecution.

According to Kent Police, during a voluntary interview in July 2023, Pullia told officers she had spat at a child who had spat at her first. She also said she pinched a pupil's nose to remove a chocolate bar from their mouth. When asked what training she had received to justify using that as a technique, she replied with a single word: none.

She was charged in December 2023 but pleaded not guilty to every count. The trial ran its course and the jury at Maidstone Crown Court returned unanimous guilty verdicts. She was sentenced to four years in prison earlier this month.

Detective Constable Hollie Kent, the investigating officer, said Pullia had been entrusted with the care of vulnerable children and had utterly failed in that responsibility. She added that many of the victims were not able to speak out for themselves and that the force was grateful to families and guardians who supported the investigation throughout.

DC Kent also said Pullia presented a danger to children and that the conviction would keep her away from them for a considerable period.

Child cruelty cases involving school staff are taken seriously by courts in England and Wales. Adults working with children in professional settings are held to a strict duty of care and any breach of that duty carries heavy legal consequences. Pullia will now serve her sentence following one of the longer custodial terms handed down in a case of this nature involving a school worker.