Two student nurses from England who got arrested after recording upset patients with dementia while throwing pebbles at them got sentenced to 20 weeks in jail each.
23-year-old Abana Arshad, a student nurse, and 24-year-old Amy Greenhalgh, a care assistant, had been charged with mistreating a person without mental capacity after harassing several pensioners by mocking them and throwing stones at them.
The pair’s despicable actions came to light after a coworker saw them gathering pebbles and throwing them at a patient who was shouting “Stop doing that! Don’t throw them at me!”
While bullying the residents, the women also took out their phones and captured the incident on camera for their entertainment. When the authorities started cracking down on them, however, they allegedly warned each other to get rid of the disturbing footage.
Following an investigation, plenty of stones were discovered in the victim’s room alongside the bed. As for the student nurses, they were arrested and charged with mistreating a person without mental capacity. While the 24-year-old pleaded guilty to the charge, Ms. Arshad was convicted by the judge.
Speaking of the disturbing case, 37-year-old Sonia Morris, the daughter of one of the nurses’ victims, said:
“There has been no remorse, no apology (…) At an earlier hearing I couldn’t believe the arrogance of them. Outside court they were smiling, laughing and having fun as if it was all one big joke.
“We could even hear them saying it ‘will be all done soon and we will go home, have tea, watch TV and put our onesies on.’ It’s just shocking how they have been.”
Another upset child of a resident the nurses bullied was Craig Gardner who claimed he had to sell his dad’s home to afford to pay for his care only for the father to get bullied and abused in return.
“Other staff at the care home have been nothing short of brilliant in caring for our dad and other residents but it’s been utterly horrifying for us to find out it has been taken away from us by the very people who should have been caring for him. He has been truly let down and whilst the nature of his illness likely means he will forget, we will not,” he said.
While District Judge James Hatton promised that the sentence will fit their crime at the time of their arrest, the families of the victims are likely less than pleased with the lenient sentence the nurses received.
“The victims deserve more from two young people who should have been caring for them. They should have been treated with dignity, yet they were not,” the judge said as he addressed the care workers during sentencing.
“They should have been treated with respect yet they were not. Instead these two defendants treated the victims like they were there for their own amusement.
“They mocked and bullied people who were unable to protect and defend themselves and they never demonstrated any genuine remorse for their behavior.”
For their disturbing acts, both Arshad and Greenhalgh have been sentenced to 20 weeks in prison each.
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Replaced!