CARERS who were filmed physically and verbally abusing a disabled woman have been jailed after a judge ruled they had shown “little empathy or compassion”.
Catherine Haining, 64, and Anne Marie Young, 60, were paid to care for their vulnerable victim, who suffered with a condition causing severe physical and learning difficulties.
Ipswich Crown Court heard in January last year, the victim’s mother paid her a visit and saw a bruise on her right eye.
The court heard when she raised this with the company, the firm denied knowing how the bruise got there.
Further marks were noted by the family over the following weeks, leading to a request to put a CCTV camera in the property.
The care provider refused, so the family took matters into their own hands, installing a camera to covertly capture what was going on inside the home.
The victim’s father looked at the footage on February 18, which showed the defendants laughing at the victim, hitting her repeatedly and pushing her on to a sofa.
The police reviewed footage captured across February 16, 17 and 18, revealing the two defendants had struck the victim with cushions, a remote control, a teddy bear and a roll of foil.
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They called the victim names, including “b****”, “bully”, “horrible person” and “nut job”.
Haining, of Bolsin Drive, Colchester, and Young, of Camulodunum Way, Colchester, admitted ill-treatment and neglect.
Calling the pair’s offences “repugnant”, Recorder Gabrielle Posner jailed Young and Haining for eight months.
She said the offending was aggravated by the pair’s abuse of a position of trust, adding: “If you are entrusted to care for a vulnerable person, you are supposed to protect and care for them, not hit them with objects, push them and subject them to name calling.
“She was powerless to stop it. There was no serious physical injury, but behaviour of this kind is frightening and demeaning, and has serious psychological consequences.”
Ms Posner said when Young and Haining were arrested, they tried to deny wrongdoing and instead made a bid to “shift blame” towards the victim.
She added: “However challenging the job was, however long the shifts were, however unsupported you felt, what you did was inexcusable.
“I have seen both of your letters to the court and what you have said to the authors of the pre-sentence report and in my view, you have tried to minimise your behaviour.”
She said the pair had shown “little empathy or compassion” to the victim or her family.
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