- Sussanah Carr tied up dementia sufferer because she did not want her wandering around care home while she was working
- Carr starts 12-month supervision order tomorrow after being spared jail
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Carer Sussanah Carr tied up a lady, who suffers from dementia, because she did not want her wandering around the care home
An 88-year-old woman was strapped to a chair with a dressing gown cord while her carer went outside to have a cigarette, a judge has heard.
Sussanah Carr tied up the lady, who suffers from dementia, because she did not want her wandering around the care home while she was working.
Carr starts a 12-month supervision order tomorrow after Judge Michael Addison spared her a prison sentence.
Earlier he had been told the care assistant was supposed to be looking after the frail woman when she tied the cord around her waist and attached it to a chair at Sutton Lodge, a Bupa care home, in Weybridge, Surrey.
The court heard that the carer, who suffers from schizophrenia, was dismissed from her role as a result of an internal review into the ill-treatment of the woman.
Carr, who had worked at the home for around ten years when she lost her job, reported what she had done to colleague Sharon Stanley, who told the police.
Prosecutor Flora Page said Carr had initially denied tying the woman up to police before admitting it following an internal review, the court heard.
At an earlier hearing in the North Surrey Magistrates’ Court in Staines, 43-year-old Carr admitted a charge of ill-treating and wilfully neglecting a person without capacity.
Elaine Stapleton, defending, said that she had lost her livelihood and previous good character because of one incident in many years of caring for people with dementia.
Miss Stapleton told Judge Addison: ‘She has a long history of caring for vulnerable people in that home.
‘What happened means she has stopped taking her medication. She has had a number of difficulties with her health.
‘Last year, in an attempt to be more independent, she moved out of her parents’ home.’
Miss Stapleton pointed out that Carr, from Shepperton, Surrey, had a lot of support from her family, who were in court.
The judge heard how the victim had been repeatedly getting out of bed and walking around her room when Carr arrived during an evening-to-morning night shift at some point between April 1 and June 1 this year.
The incident was described by Miss Page as being over ‘in a matter of minutes’.
The prosecutor added: ‘The victim is 88 years old and had been wandering around the care home during the course of the night and Miss Carr had been chasing after her and following her around.
‘However, a time came when she sat her down in her chair and, using the cord of her dressing gown, tied it on the chair.’
The court heard the carer, who suffers from schizophrenia, was dismissed from her role at Sutton Lodge, a Bupa care home in Weybridge, Surrey, after an internal review into the ill-treatment of the woman
Judge Addison heard that the cord stretched around the victim’s waist. Summing up later, he said this was a key detail because the woman could have untied herself.
Addressing Carr, Judge Addison said: ‘You were in charge of looking after an old lady suffering from dementia.
‘She was sat in the chair and you put the dressing gown cord around her waist.
‘It was tied in a bow. She could have un-done it.’
Judge Addison said there was no evidence the woman had suffered any distress as a result of the restraint and he did not understand why the case had not been dealt with at an earlier hearing in the magistrates’ court.
Carr was handed down a 12-month community order with supervision.
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