Care home worker jailed after spraying aerosol can in 78-year-old woman’s face
A care home worker who sprayed an aerosol can in the face of a 78-year-old woman with dementia has been handed a four-week jail term.
Susan Draper, 44, was told she had been slovenly, perfunctory and “cavalier” while ill-treating Betty Boylan, whose family uncovered the offence by rigging up a covert camera in her room.
Although the court heard the pensioner was not physically hurt, District Judge Ian Strongman said a custodial sentence was necessary to mark the seriousness of the reckless offence.
Birmingham Magistrates’ Court was told Draper, who has since been dismissed from the city’s Bupa-run Perry Locks care home, used a can of Impulse body spray around a foot away from Mrs Boylan’s face.
Draper (pictured), of Cranehouse Road, Kingstanding, denied ill-treating the immobile pensioner but was found guilty of an ill-treatment offence earlier this month after a day-long trial heard she had “dehumanised” her victim.
CCTV footage played to the trial showed Mrs Boylan coughing and gurgling after being hoisted into a chair and sprayed in the face in September last year.
Prosecutor Shawn Williams told the court the covert camera was placed in Mrs Boylan’s room to monitor the retired nurse’s treatment amid concerns at apparent bruising.
Describing the CCTV prior to Monday’s sentencing hearing, Mr Williams told the court: “She sprayed the facial area not once but twice, causing gurgling-type noises to emanate from the victim.”
The carer told investigators she had made a “stupid mistake” and had lost her job at the home, where she worked for 17 years.
Passing sentence, Mr Strongman told Draper: “I found this a particularly difficult case because the neglect is not of the worst kind that comes before the courts, and I accept it’s reckless rather than deliberate actions to harm people.
“Nevertheless Betty Boylan was 78. She suffers from vascular dementia, she is immobile, she has respiratory issues and she is wholly dependent on other people for her care.
“It’s said on your behalf that other people in the care home from time to time asked you to do extra things for them because they could rely on you.
“I am afraid that wasn’t demonstrated in the video clip that I have watched.
“It seems to me you demonstrated a cavalier attitude to caring.”
In a statement issued after the court hearing, the family of the victim said: “At last justice has been done.
“The sentence is a message to all carers who abuse the elderly to let them know what to expect.”
Draper was the second care worker convicted of ill-treating Mrs Boylan due to evidence provided by the camera.
Care worker Bina Begum, 49, was given a 12-month community order in February after admitting ill treating and neglecting Mrs Boylan.
Begum, of Teddington Grove, Perry Barr, was also ordered to carry out 40 hours of unpaid work.
Copyright (c) Press Association Ltd. 2017, All Rights Reserved. Picture (c) Arron Chown / PA Wire.
