Care firm is fined £20k af ter worker abducted & raped
A CARE company has been fined £20,000 for failing to safeguard a worker who was abducted, assaulted and raped by a client.
The Action Group, which provides housing and community support to those with additional needs, pleaded guilty to health and safety breaches committed in 2017 and 2018.
The court heard that on December 27, 2018, Albert Caballero abducted, assaulted, sexually assaulted and raped a 25-year-old woman on a visit to his Edinburgh home.
Caballero was jailed for eight years in June 2019 after pleading guilty to the attack. He was also made subject to a supervision order for four years on his release and put on the sex offenders’ register indefinitely.
The support worker had gone to the 46-year-old’s flat, where Caballero started making inappropriate comments. When the victim tried to leave, she found he had locked the door. She punched him in the face but was forced into the bedroom, where she was attacked.
When the victim left the flat, she contacted a colleague and then made her way to Leith police station.
A short time after the incident, Caballero went to Portobello police station and used the phone outside to call officers and admit his actions.
The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) referred the case to the Health and Safety Executive, which opened an investigation. It found The Action Group failed to sufficiently assess and mitigate the risk Caballero posed to female staff.
The Edinburgh-based company was fined £20,000 at the city’s Sheriff Court yesterday after pleading guilty to three health and safety breaches.
The probe also uncovered a history of inappropriate behaviour from Caballero, with reports not recorded despite many carers being aware of or experiencing incidents.
Alistair Duncan, head of COPFS’s health and safety investigation unit, said: ‘A young woman suffered a serious and traumatic assault and rape while acting in the course of her employment.
‘This prosecution should serve as a reminder to all employers that failure to establish the necessary measures and policies can have serious consequences.’