Pensioner is cleared of assaulting disabled sister

Pensioner is cleared of assaulting disabled sister

16 August 2017

A SEVERELY disabled elderly woman was removed from her sister’s care following an assault allegation that has now been quashed.

Downpatrick Court has heard the “difficult” and “concerning” case of a 74 year-old deaf woman with profound mental and physical disabilities, who was taken from her Killyleagh home after the allegation was made against her sister by two care workers.

Acquitting 69 year-old Bernadette Heaney, of Limetree Hollow, of a single assault charge, the local judge said he was amazed Social Services acted so quickly removing the disabled woman from her home without an apparent investigation.

The case arose after two care workers claimed Heaney had punched her sister Agnes Heaney in the arm and kicked her chair during a “shower call” on November 18 last year.

The court heard they only reported the allegation when they returned to work three days later which led to Agnes being put into a care home where she remains.

Heaney denied assaulting her sister, who she has looked after for over 30 years, and said she had only touched Agnes’ arm to get her attention because she is deaf.

She said she wanted to warn her sister not to move her chair, which she feared she would fall out of, and said although she accepted she might have accidentally touched the chair with her foot, she insisted she did not kick it.

Describing Agnes as “like a very young child”, she said she would “tell on you if you did anything on her”.

“She would call me a tramp if I had punched her in the arm, she would make a noise. She bruises easily,” she said.

“I tapped her on the arm to get her attention, I did not thump her. I have to do it that way as she is totally deaf.

“I am not a cross person. I would never have punched her. She is my sister.

“She was taken away, she wants to come home.”

The mother and daughter care team told the court they were shocked to see Heaney punch Agnes’ arm.

The senior carer, who has worked in the industry for 20 years, explained that she was assisting her daughter on the call and had attended the Heaney’s home quarterly to check that everything was running smoothly.

When they arrived, she claimed Heaney was a bad mood, complaining about a previous care worker and annoyed that she had to treat Agnes’ skin infection. She said Heaney lashed out at her sister, punching her in the left arm and kicking her chair, after shouting that she would mark the wall as she settled into her chair after the shower.

“I was a wee bit shocked but I knew Bernie was really annoyed that night because of the rash, which meant she had to wash bed clothes and cream both of them,” she said.

“It was a bad week for Bernie but at the end of the day I have to report everything as a duty of care.”

The woman said she did not write about the alleged punch in the log book they fill in during visits because she was afraid of Heaney’s reaction and instead noted it in a book in her car and told her supervisor about when she returned to work the following Monday morning.

The second care worker concurred Heaney was “quite angry” when they arrived at the house and said “she always shouts”.

Defence barrister Conor O’Kane said it was “inconceivable” the carers would have waited until the following Monday morning to report the incident if it had been a “a punch”.

“This is a concerning case,” he said.

“When they made an allegation of a criminal assault on a vulnerable woman immediately she was taken into care.”

He accused both carers of “misdescribing” what had happened and suggested the senior carer might  “have a problem” with Heaney who he conceded could be “cantankerous, like a grumpy old woman”.

“But you are saying she is always shouting, always complaining,” he said.

He said it was also significant that Heaney’s son, who was in the home at the time, told the court there was nothing out of the ordinary about the visit.

District Judge Greg McCourt conceded the case was “difficult” and said he had no doubt tensions might have arisen between the sisters over 30 years of what he described as “a very difficult looking after situation”.

“I am quite certain it is quite difficult for Bernie and difficult for her sister who acts like a child of five or six,” he said.

“Bernie appears to be someone who would complain a bit and it might be a difficult call for the carers, who were strong in their evidence. They were quite clear of a punch being given.”

Describing the defendant’s evidence as “not particularly impressive”, Mr McCourt said he nonetheless has doubts about what happened.

He said his concerns included the fact the incident had not been reported more promptly, that the carers had not spoken to Heaney’s son about what they claimed to have seen before leaving the property and that Agnes had not shouted out in pain or told anyone about being punched.

“I am suspicious certainly as to what happened but I am not satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt and on that basis I will acquit Bernie,” he said.