Ex-carers who ill-treated home's residents jailed

A former care home worker who punched an 80-year-old resident in the face and then claimed his injuries had been self-inflicted has been jailed.

Simran Asif, 23, was sentenced on Thursday to 11 months in prison for ill-treating three vulnerable residents with dementia at Wingfield Nursing Home in Bingley, West Yorkshire, in 2022.

Asif, of Park Terrace, Keighley, had also thrown a tissue box at a sleeping 91-year-old resident with skin cancer, Bradford Crown Court had heard.

Her former colleague, 24-year-old Ridha Kazmi, was jailed for three months after admitting one allegation of ill-treatment the same year.

The court had been told that Asif's 80-year-old victim was left with a black eye after she punched him.

Both she and Kazmi then claimed the man had punched himself.

But Kazmi, of Brantwood Road in Bradford, later blew the whistle on Asif after she saw her colleague laughing as she left the room of the sleeping resident at whom she had thrown the tissue box.

The victim cried out in pain when he was struck and had suffered "a large wound", according to prosecutors.

The court had been told that after Asif was dismissed, she sent her former employers two video clips showing Kazmi's treatment of an 84-year-old woman.

One clip showed an incident where Kazmi had laughed after pouring water down the back of the resident's pyjama top.

In the other clip, she was shown kicking away an orange ball the same resident was going to pick up and then threw a napkin at her, leaving her distressed and confused.

All three victims had since died, Bradford Crown Court had heard.

A victim impact statement by the daughter of one of the victims said she had suffered flashbacks about how her father must have felt while he was in the home.

Mitigating for Asif, Rebecca Young said her client deeply regretted her actions and had offered a "heartfelt and genuine apology" to each of the victims and their families.

Meanwhile, mitigating for Kazmi, Saf Salam said her client's actions had been "deplorable", but she had become a "whistleblower" after struggling with her conscience.

Sentencing the pair, the judge told the court that the home's residents had been "clearly in need of extensive, gentle care from all those who were responsible for them".

The offending by Asif and Kazmi involved a breach of trust between the patient and the carer and, beyond that, the wider trust placed in carers by the families, he said.

“These offences are so serious that only an immediate custodial sentence can be justified in the case of both of you,” the judge added.

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