A woman who twice acted aggressively towards a 98-year-old dementia patient in a Newburgh care home has been spared imprisonment.
Jessie McAuley was handed 135 hours of unpaid work as a direct alternative to jail time.
A court heard she has since left the care industry entirely after twice illegally manhandling Elizabeth Williamson in March 2019, while a care worker at Abbotsford’s Tayside View care home in Newburgh.
Ms Williamson has since passed away.
The incidents were only revealed following her death.
‘Same category’ as attacks on baby
McAuley, 55, of Hill Road, Newburgh, admitted in Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court assaulting Ms Williamson at the Gardens Road care home.
She placed Ms Williamson in a chair against her will and dragged it backwards along the ground.
The pensioner was not injured but Sheriff Timothy Niven-Smith said the incidents were in “the same category” as attacks on a baby, given Ms Williamson’s inability to defend herself.
Her solicitor said McAuley acted the way she did because other residents had become irate on both occasions and while alone, she felt it was the best way to secure Ms Williamson’s safety.
He told the court: “She had told supervisors she was suffering from work-related stress.
“Her employers were aware of this.
“Despite having raised this issue at a performance review… nothing was done about it.
“She accepts on reflection that she should have acted differently.
“She accepts that she caused distress.”
The solicitor explained McAuley had “completely removed” herself from the care industry.
‘Attack on a vulnerable individual’
Sheriff Niven-Smith said: “The difficulty is, this was sustained.
“It was perpetrated on a 98-year-old woman suffering with dementia.
“Their (dementia sufferers) health will fluctuate from minute to minute.
“It should be understood that people with that condition have often become vulnerable a number of ways.
“It’s an attack upon a vulnerable individual who was unable to call out or ask for help.
“The victim was a 98-year-old woman.
“You owed her a duty of care. You breached that duty of care significantly.
“This was not an isolated incident.
“In all the circumstances, I’m minded to impose a direct alternative to custody.”
The sheriff gave McAuley a year to complete her unpaid work.
