BEATEN WITH A STICK BY FELLOW RESIDENT
FRAIL Hazel Sanders, 92, was left battered and bruised when a fellow care home resident assaulted her with his walking stick.
Harrowing photographs show bruises to her neck and hands after she was attacked by a man in his 80s at Karam Court Care Home in Smethwick, West Midlands. The swelling to her fingers was so severe her wedding ring had to be cut off.
Police investigated and Mrs Sanders was removed from the home by her daughter Mary, 73, who raised concerns that a resident with known mental health issues was able to attack her mother.
She is now calling on all care homes to be fitted with more cameras to put relatives at ease.
Karam Court cares for those with dementia and mental illnesses. Mrs Sanders did not have dementia but had been admitted with depression. Describing the incident, her daughter said: ‘He approached my mother as she was walking to her bedroom. As he hit her – bang, bang, bang – she was pleading, “if you want money, just take it”.
‘There was no one around. He could’ve killed her.’ Staff pulled the attacker away when they came across the assault in October 2014.
Mrs Sanders died in October last year aged 94 in an ‘incident-free’ nursing home, having suffered from colon cancer.
Speaking last night, her daughter said: ‘The police said they couldn’t do anything. It was all handled very badly. I didn’t even receive a writ- ten apology. I can’t even tell you what I think about the care home, she was treated appallingly.’ A spokesman for Karam Court said: ‘The incident happened in a corridor and staff were aware of it within seconds, coming to Mrs Sanders’s aid and restraining the other resident. ‘An ambulance was called immediately and, in line with our procedures, the police, Care Quality Commission, council safeguarding and both families were contacted.’