Sussanah Carr tied up dementia sufferer because she did not want her wandering around care home while she was working
Carr starts 12-month supervision order tomorrow after being spared jail
By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
17 November 2013
A care home assistant used a dressing gown cord to tie an 88-year-old woman with dementia to a chair while she went outside to smoke a cigarette.
A court was told that Sussanah Carr, 43, restrained the pensioner because she had been wandering around the care home.
She told a colleague what she had done and was reported to police, but denied it when interviewed by officers.
However, she later went back to the police station to admit her crime after being questioned by care home bosses at an internal inquiry.
When she was finally brought before a court, she pleaded guilty to a charge of ill-treating and wilfully neglecting a person without capacity.
Carr was spared a jail sentence, however, when Judge Michael Addison gave her a 12-month supervision order.
When the offence came to light, she was dismissed from her job at Sutton Lodge, a Bupa care home in Weybridge, Surrey, where she had worked for about ten years.
Guildford Crown Court was told the victim had been repeatedly getting out of bed and walking around when Carr arrived during an overnight shift earlier this year.
Prosecutor Flora Page said the incident was over ‘in a matter of minutes’.
Miss Page added: ‘The victim had been wandering around . . . and Miss Carr had been chasing after her and following her around. However, a time came when she sat her down in her chair and, using the cord of her dressing gown, tied it on the chair.’
Summing up later, Judge Addison said a key detail was the fact that it was secured around her waist in such a way that the woman would have been able to untie herself. He told Carr, of Shepperton, Surrey: ‘You were in charge of looking after an old lady suffering from dementia.
‘She was sat in the chair and you put the dressing gown cord around her waist. It was tied in a bow. She could have undone it.
‘I sentence you on the basis that she was only tied to the chair for a number of minutes.
‘It is a serious matter to ill-treat someone who lacks mental capacity in a home, but it does seem that this offence is right at the bottom of the scale.’
Judge Addison said there was no evidence that the woman suffered any distress and he did not understand why the case had not been dealt with at an earlier hearing at North Surrey Magistrates’ Court in Staines.
Elaine Stapleton, defending, said Carr had lost her livelihood and record of previous good character because of one incident in many years of caring for people with dementia.
Miss Stapleton said: ‘She has a long history of caring for vulnerable people in that home. What happened means she has stopped taking her medication. She has had a number of difficulties with her health.’
In a statement after sentencing, Graham Brittain, of Bupa Care Services UK, said: ‘The behaviour of Sussanah Carr was clearly unacceptable.
‘We immediately suspended her and reported her to the appropriate authorities to ensure that vulnerable older people are protected. The court has now taken appropriate action.’
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