Carer ‘shook sick mum like rag doll’
54-YEAR-OLD DENIES ILL TREATMENT IN TRIAL
A MOTHER who is so ill she has to talk through an iPad was allegedly driven from her home by a live-in carer who left her ‘whimpering in pain’ and slept while she ‘screamed’ for help.
Lorraine Parkin, 45, suffers from Huntington’s Disease.
The degenerative brain condition has left her unable to walk, wracked by involuntary movements, dependent on help with basic needs, and she expresses her wants using an electronic tablet equipped with a voice synthesiser.
Beauty Mufakazi, her 54-year-old carer, has now gone on trial at Manchester Crown Court. She faces allegations she hit, poked, pinched, grabbed and squeezed Mrs Parkin – shaking her at times ‘like a rag doll’ and leaving her ‘blistered’ and ‘bruised’ during months of ‘shocking’ treatment.
Ms Mufakazi was likened to ‘Miss Trunchbull’ from Roald Dahl’s book, Matilda, by a relative of Mrs Parkin, it was heard.
Prosecutor Neil Fryman told jurors: “Lorraine Parkin ended up agreeing to move out of her own home – the home she loved and wanted to stay in – because in essence she just did not want to be cared for by this defendant anymore.”
Ms Mufakazi, of Kingsley Avenue, Moston, denies the ill treatment and neglect of Lorraine Parkin while living at the complainant’s home.
Jurors were told that Mrs Parkin, who has three children, became afflicted with Huntington’s disease in middle age. Describing the condition, Mr Fryman said: “It’s a substantially debilitating disease, a very sad disease, where in particular the movements of your body just get worse and worse over a period of time.
“Sometimes it’s rapid, sometimes it’s slow, but she was afflicted by this dreadful disease.”
Despite this, Mrs Parkin was determined to stay in her home in Swinton, Salford.
However, it’s alleged that after four months of being cared for by Beauty Mufakazi she moved into hospital to get away from her. During that period it’s alleged Ms Mufakazi pulled Mrs Parkin ‘like rag doll,’ caused her to be ‘blistered and red’ by leaving her out in the sun without sunscreen, and left her hair ‘chronically knotted.’
She is also accused of shoving her shoulder to shoulder, putting her at risk of choking by forcing her to lie down while eating, and leaving her screaming for half an hour while she slept in another room.
Ms Mufakazi was allegedly seen to push the ‘distressed’ complainant, who on another occasion was seen crying and pointing her finger at her.
Beauty Mufakazi is an ‘experienced carer,’ jurors were told. But the prosecutor alleged ‘the things she did and didn’t do’ in her care of Mrs Parkin were ‘glaring and obvious.’
“An experienced carer would have no excuses for how she treated Lorraine Parkin”, Mr Fryman said.
An investigation began in September 2015, when it’s alleged Beauty Mufakazi deliberately grabbed and twisted Lorraine Parkin’s arm ‘upwards and outwards,’ causing her to ‘whimper in pain.’
A witness then saw ‘fingertip bruising,’ and Mrs Parkin later said she was the victim of deliberate yanking and pulling.
Mr Fryman, prosecuting, said Ms Mufakazi was likened to ‘Miss Trunchbull’ from Roald Dahl’s book, Matilda by a relative of Mrs Parkin.
Opening the case, Mr Fryman said Mrs Parkin had given an account of the alleged ill-treatment, despite her ‘grave difficulties in communicating.’ Proceeding.