90-year-old stabbed at care home

An elderly pensioner with dementia repeatedly stabbed a bed-bound woman in the face at a care home after wandering into her room, a court heard.

Dennis Latter inflicted 49 wounds on 90-year-old Betty Wood at Kingsfield Care Home in Jubilee Way, Faversham, with a “relatively blunt table knife”.

The victim had been at the home since 2011, while Latter, 79, arrived just over a month before the attack on December 30.

Prosecutor Simon Taylor told a jury at Maidstone Crown Court that Latter and Mrs Wood had rooms opposite each other.

At about 9pm he entered her room with the knife and slashed at her face, including her eyelids.

Care workers rushed to the room after hearing choking noises. They saw Latter was repeatedly thrusting his hand down on the victim’s head.

Mrs Wood was treated for her injuries in the William Harvey Hospital in Ashford for 11 days.

Mr Taylor said Latter, who was not present in court, was unfit to stand trial on a charge of attempted murder and an alternative charge of wounding with intent.

The jury of eight men and four women took less than 10 minutes to decide Latter did the act.

Sentence was adjourned until November for an up-to-date psychiatric report which will help to determine whether a hospital order under the Mental Health Act should be made with or without restriction of time.