Daycare Worker Sentenced for Allowing Siblings to Fight, Encouraging Violence

A former daycare worker accepted a plea and will spend 8 months in jail after being accused of allowing two siblings in her care to fight each other while encouraging them to harm each other.

Riffat Tahmin Khalil accepted an Alford plea in the case over the incident that occurred on July 28, 2025. The plea allows her to maintain her innocence while acknowledging that the prosecution likely has enough evidence to convict her. Police began investigating her when the mother of two children reported that her kids sustained injuries after Khalil had made them fight.

Police arrived at Discovery Zone Kids in Evans, Georgia and obtained video of the incident, according to The Augusta Press, which obtained a police report describing the content of the video.

The footage reportedly shows Khalil, 38, looking on as a 9-year-old boy repeatedly kicked his 6-year-old sister while she was on the ground. The girl eventually stood up and grabbed a chair to create distance between her and her attacking brother. Khalil then grabbed the girl by the arm, swinging and shaking her before letting go.

A teacher reportedly entered the room as the girl threw down the chair. Khalil is then accused of picking up the chair and charging toward the girl with it before giving it to the boy and gesturing for him to throw it at his sister. Eventually, a second teacher entered the room and removed the girl.

When the children told their mother what happened after she picked them up, she alerted police, who seized the video as evidence to eventually arrest Khalil. A judge has ordered her to spend 8 months in jail and eight years of probation. She is also prohibited from working in child care in the future.