Two carers found guilty of abuse
TWO carers have been found guilty of ill-treating and abusing vulnerable care home residents.
Douglas Stephens and Anthony Thomas denied ill-treating or neglecting a person who lacks mental capacity, but a jury has found them both guilty of the charges against them.
However, the jury was discharged yesterday when jurors failed to reach a verdict in the case of Tony Rowlands, who faced a single charge of illtreating or neglecting a person who lacks mental capacity, an offence he denied.
The prosecution service now has seven days to decide whether to apply for Rowlands, 53, of Jenkins Road, Neath, to face a retrial.
The men worked for private care company TracsCare, which has now been re-branded as Accomplish, at residential homes in Swansea.
The court heard how Stephens, aged 40, of Rhosyderi, Tumble, Llanelli, pulled a woman off a settee and knelt on her stomach with one knee. He also used the resident’s hair to “bang her head on the floor a number of times” and made sexual comments towards two separate female residents.
The trial also heard how Thomas, 64, of Briar Dene, Sketty, Swansea, had shouted at a vulnerable resident, grabbing him by the shoulders, and putting his thumb into his throat.
In the Crown’s opening of the case, Jim Davis, prosecuting, told Swansea Crown Court it was acknowledged that the residents’ behaviour could often be “challenging” and said staff used a system called Studio III which emphasises the management of residents through distraction and deescalation techniques with physical intervention only being used as a last resort.
The court also heard from a colleague who worked with Stephens and Thomas at Gower Lodge in Sterry Road in Gowerton, Swansea, and told the court he had witnessed Stephens lose his temper with one vulnerable adult.
He said: “Doug was on the phone and just shouted: ‘I have had a ******* gutful of this’ quite loudly. [The alleged victim] was on the sofa and he dragged her off the sofa by the hair and dragged her across the floor.
“She was screaming and then Doug put his weight on her. He had a knee on her chest and he grabbed her head and slammed it three or four times on the floor.
“He was screaming: ‘You will f***ing learn not to hit staff members’. I could hear the thud of her head on the floor.”
Stephens and Thomas, who had denied ill-treating or neglecting a person who lacks mental capacity, were both found guilty of the charges against them on Thursday.