Illawarra aged care worker denies allegations she slapped, swore at and sprayed chemicals at elderly patients
A court has heard workers at an Illawarra aged care home were ‘too scared’ to report one of their colleagues had allegedly been assaulting vulnerable patients.
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Serious allegations about an Illawarra aged care worker’s conduct have been revealed to a Wollongong Court, with colleagues accusing the woman of spraying cleaning chemicals in a vulnerable elderly woman’s face, and swearing and slapping several others.
Former Warrigal Warilla aged care worker Shakuntala Mudaliar faced Wollongong Local Court for the first day of hearing on Wednesday, after she was charged with five counts of common assault last year.
The 48-year-old, who has been suspended from her role as an aged care worker pending court proceedings, denies allegations she assaulted three women and two men, aged between 74 and 87, at the Warrigal Warilla aged care facility between October and December.
On Wednesday, the court heard two of Mudaliar’s colleagues raised the alarm about her alleged behaviour toward residents to their manager Aileen Keegan on December 22 last year, after allegedly witnessing her slap, swear at and spray chemicals in the face of residents over a three-month period.
Anu Mohan, one of Mudaliar’s former colleagues told the court on Wednesday that he witnessed his colleague “slap” an elderly female resident in October 2018, but was too scared to report it because she was “more senior” than he was and because he “didn’t have any evidence”
But, after becoming fed-up with Mudaliar’s “rude, disrespectful and bullying” ways, he alerted Ms Keegan to the alleged slap in December. Despite Mudaliar firmly denying the allegations, an investigation was launched and police were contacted on December 24.
During the police investigations, another of Mudaliar’s colleagues Roshiny Ditto alleged she had witnessed her former friend assault three different patients at the aged care home.
One of the most disturbing allegations raised was that Mudaliar sprayed cleaning chemicals in an elderly woman’s face sometime during December last year.
Ms Ditto told the court she and two other colleagues were cleaning up the dining room after lunch, when an elderly woman walked toward Mudaliar, who was cleaning tables at the time.
“[The elderly woman] walked toward her … then [Mudaliar] sprayed the chemicals in her eyes,” she said. “They were really red and she started to cry.”
Shocked by Mudaliar’s alleged actions, Ms Ditto told the court her two other colleagues asked Mudaliar “why did you do that”, but that it was never reported to senior management.
“I was new to Warrigal, they were more experienced than me,” Ms Ditto told the court.
“I thought if no one documents this, why should I.”
Ms Ditto also alleged she witnessed Mudaliar “slap” an elderly woman on the right side of her face as they tried to give her a sponge bath, leaving the woman with “really red” mark on her face.
“Once we finished [the sponge bath] we were supposed to move her [the elderly woman] to the dining room but because of the redness I was scared to take her out there,” Ms Ditto said.
When asked why she didn’t immediately report the matter to staff, Ms Ditto said she was “really scared” of Mudaliar because she was a “very strong character”.
On another occasion, Ms Ditto also alleged she saw Mudaliar slap an elderly man twice on his leg and buttock as they tried to transfer him from his bed to a wheelchair.
“She tried to open his leg to put a sling under, but he can’t straighten his leg,” she said.
“She slapped him … she said “f**k off, you people never listen to me’.”
During the hearing, Mudaliar’s defence raised questions with her former colleagues about why they did not follow strict protocol that required them to report any assaults on residents or staff members, suggesting the assaults did not happen.
But, both Ms Ditto and Mr Mohan said they had occurred, and that due to their low level on the centre’s management food chain, they felt they could not report the incidents, fearing they wouldn’t be believed and that it wasn’t part of workplace culture.
The hearing continues.