Attorney General urged to review sentencing of three abusers of care home dementia resident

Action on Elder Abuse has written to the Attorney General calling for him to review the recent sentences given to three care home staff members who were found guilty of abusing a care home resident in their care.

The abuse was captured after the son of 79-year-old Gladys Wright, who has dementia, set up secret cameras in her care home bedroom at Granary Dementia Care Centre in North Somerset.

Recordings from the secret footage revealed Mrs Wright being verbally abused, roughly handled and repeatedly pushed, pulled and shoved by three carers who pleaded guilty to the ill-treatment of Mrs Wright taking place in 2012.

Daniel Baynes was given a four month prison sentence for three counts of ill-treatment or neglect of a person who lacks capacity and Janusz Salnikow admitted to three counts of ill-treatment and received two months in prison suspended for two years.

Tomasz Gidaszewski admitted to one count of ill-treatment and was given 180 hours of unpaid work by Bristol Crown Court. All three care workers have been banned from working with vulnerable adults for the rest of their lives.

Action on Elder Abuse has called for harsher punishments to be given for people found guilty of similar abuse, and said the recent sentencing given to the care workers was too lenient.

Gary FitzGerald, chief executive of Action on Elder Abuse, said “What these three people did was appalling, and if it had been a child I am sure the sentences would have been far harsher and more appropriate. You hurt just as much at 79 years as you do at 9 years of age and we should treat these criminal acts in the same way. We believe that this sentencing is too lenient, does not convey the seriousness with which the public view such abuse, and will not act as a deterrent.”

The charity also highlighted a case heard at Newport Magistrates Court where a carer was given two 26 week sentences after being found guilty of two counts of assaults on older residents in her care. Raquel Welch, 47, made a resident cry out with pain by bending their fingers back to their wrists and pushed a 90 year old dementia suffer down on his bed so hard he hit his head on his bed rails.

Mr FitzGerald continued: “There is no point in criminalising acts of abuse if the consequences are so light as to be ineffectual. This not only sends a message to abusers that they can get away with it, but it undermines the fantastic work and commitment of thousands of other care staff. We have now given the Attorney General the opportunity to put this right and we hope that he does so.”