Carer jailed for smashing elderly woman’s skull
VICTIM WAS THEN STABBED IN THE THROAT
A CARER who smashed the skull of a 90-year-old woman with a seveninch hammer and stabbed her in the throat has been jailed for 21 years for attempted murder.
Abosede Adeyinka, 52, was handed the prison term at Blackfriars Crown Court on Thursday following the attack on 90-year-old Pamela Batten at her home in Yiewsley.
She was the former carer of Ms Batten’s late husband Ernest.
Adeyinka, of Hayman Crescent, Hayes, was convicted by a jury at the court on Wednesday November 1, following eight days of evidence at a trial after the defendant pleaded not guilty.
Born in Woolwich, but raised in Nigeria, Adeyinka returned to the UK as an adult. The court heard she was previously convicted while aged in her late 20s and 30s on actual bodily harm and burglary charges.
She had worked as a Sunday school teacher, educating more than 30 young children in London, and had previously worked at St Mary’s Hospital in an administrative role for several years.
The carer was heard sobbing in the dock as the judge delivered his sentence.
Judge Peter Clarke QC said: “You went to Pamela Batten’s house and rang the bell or knocked on the door but there was no answer.
“There was a long delay so you went to the key safe for which you knew the combination.
“You thought you were going into an empty house, which shows your intentions.”
Earlier the court was told that Ms Batten’s husband, who Adeyinka had cared for before his death, had “squirreled away a sum of over £30,000 in cash around his house that Ms Batten was not aware of ”.
“Even though you were wearing a lace disguise, Pamela Batten testified to the court that she called your name, so you implemented your second plan,” the judge said.
“You took out a seven-inch hammer, smashing her skull with at least two blows.
“You must have been carrying that hammer with you on your calls as just 15 minutes previously you were looking after another elderly woman.
“The jury could not be sure that you took a knife to the house, but you used it at close range, leaving a wound five centimetres into her throat.”
“The wound reached close to her spine and severed a small artery near her spine,” Judge Clark added.
“You then entered her living room to get her handbag and at this point both you and Ms Batten were covered in her blood.
“Pamela Batten, showing presence of mind, told you her son, who visits her every day religiously, would be visiting her soon.”
The judge said Adeyinka then fled the scene, leaving Ms Batten with her “head lying over the threshold of her home”.
“You are then seen on CCTV calmly boarding a bus to go home,” the judge added.
“A vascular surgeon said that she had just one hour to live if she had not received immediate surgical intervention.
“You have shown not an iota of remorse in this courtroom as you doggedly and vigorously denied the case against you.
“Your crime was for gain on an especially vulnerable victim over whom you previously had a duty of care and she will live all her last days in constant fear.”
Adeyinka, who had been quietly sobbing and praying as the judge spoke, screamed “I didn’t do it”, followed by loud sobs and pleas.
She was dismissed but her screams could be heard in the courtroom for several minutes.
The judge concluded the case by thanking the jurors for their public service.