A carer has been jailed for three months after she was filmed verbally abusing an 81-year-old woman with dementia. Louise Harris, 42, was captured on camera screaming at Elizabeth Anne Shipton in her home in Pontardawe, telling her: 'I hope you die in your sleep you f***ing horrible cow.'
The abuse caught on camera
The footage shows Harris kneeling beside Elizabeth, who was lying in bed, and placing her arm on the elderly woman's chest while demanding to know where her money was. When Elizabeth complained that the arm was hurting, Harris shouted: 'I don't care, where's your money?'
At Swansea Crown Court last week, Harris was sentenced to three months in prison. The victim's daughter, Tracy Faram, has filed an appeal arguing the sentence was unduly lenient.
Family's trust betrayed
Tracy said she had known Harris, a former neighbour, for many years and had trusted her. 'She'd been a carer since she was 18. I checked everything with her – she was trained on dementia, manual handling, incontinence. I'll never get my head around how she could do this,' Tracy said.
The abuse occurred on the first and only occasion Harris cared for Elizabeth, after the family hired her through a Facebook advert as a sitter while waiting for a care package. Tracy had made Harris aware that her mother was in a fragile state, having recently been hospitalised with sepsis and grieving the death of her husband.
Drink and rage
After Tracy left, Harris found a bottle of vodka in the fridge and drank it. The court heard she was a recovering alcoholic who had 'succumbed to temptation'. The abuse appeared to be sparked by Elizabeth accidentally pressing her Lifeline button, which triggered a call to a crisis helpline. Although the call was quickly ended, it seemed to infuriate Harris.
Harris screamed obscenities at the victim and later went into the kitchen, where she waved a large knife and trashed the property. When police arrived, they had to break down the door. The court heard the inebriated carer was found slumped on the floor.
Impact on the victim
Prosecutor Abud Hussain said Elizabeth lay helpless in her bed thinking she was going to die. Tracy said her mother is 'horrifically traumatised' and now suffers vivid flashbacks, requiring sedatives. She can no longer be left alone and fears Harris will return.
Harris, of Cwrt y Waun, Rhydyfro, Pontardawe, had no previous convictions. She pleaded guilty to being a care worker who ill-treated the victim and to criminal damage. An initial charge of attempted robbery was dropped by the Crown Prosecution Service, a decision that outraged Tracy.
Sentence criticised
During sentencing, Harris's lawyer Andrew Evans said she was genuinely remorseful. Judge Huw Rees imposed a three-month jail term, of which 40% will be served in custody. Tracy said: 'The judge's hands were tied by the sentencing guidelines. You could see he was raging.'
Judge Rees stated that elderly people were entitled to be treated with 'respect, dignity, and humanity' but that the defendant had been 'heartless and cruel'. Tracy has called for cameras in homes where carers work, saying: 'What if we didn't have this camera?'
