Fury at ‘let-off’ for carer filmed assaulting patient
THE family of a 78-year-old dementia patient say they are outraged after a carer caught on camera repeatedly hitting their mother was let off with a police caution.
Stacey George, 46, was also filmed telling Sabina Marsden, “God you stink” and snatching a blanket from her knees.
Mrs Marsden’s daughter Gina Owen saw the abuse on her phone while at work in a nearby shop. She rushed home to comfort her mother, ordering George to leave.
The family handed the video to police after the incident last June but were horrified to be told later that George was only given a caution after admitting assaulting Mrs Marsden. Ms Owen, 46, said: “I felt sick. The caution is nothing more than a slap on the wrist, I can’t get my head around it.
“If I hit her that day, I would have been a lot worse off than her. It really is an assault.”
Mrs Marsden, from Kettering, Northants, suffers from dementia, diabetes and is partially-sighted.
She has been cared for by George for almost two years after the death of Malcolm, her husband of 47 years. Ms Owen and her sister Mandy Aston, 48, needed a carer to look after their mother during the day when they are not around. They began to suspect all was not well after she began to decline significantly and ended up installing hidden cameras in her home.
Ms Aston said: “Looking back at it now you think was she trying to tell us something? We promised our dad when he died that we would never put mum in care and we feel like we’ve let him down.”
George’s employers, Ketteringbased Mega Care, said she had been sacked. Northamptonshire Police said they would meet the family to discuss their decision. A spokesman said: “After a thorough investigation and a review of all the evidence, a 46-year-old woman was issued with a police caution.”