Tovale Kalati: Presbyterian aged care worker sentenced for assaulting residents
An aged care worker has been handed a lifetime ban for a series of violent attacks on some of society’s most vulnerable.
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UPDATE
An aged care worker who assaulted seven vulnerable residents in Sydney’s inner west has been banned from working in healthcare.
Tovale Kalati, 57, from Yagoona assaulted seven patients - six men and one female resident - at Presbyterian Aged Care in Ashfield from February to October 2019.Kalati had worked as an assistant in nursing (AIN) at the aged care facility for 10 years.
The NSW Health Care Complaints Commission (HCCC) has since finalised its investigations into Kalati and found she “failed to provide care in a safe and ethical manner” to the seven residents under her care.
“The Commission’s investigation found that Ms Kalati’s conduct was deliberate and involved acts of violence and/or humiliation towards vulnerable residents under her care, many who were defenceless and unable to effectively communicate with staff as a result of their medical conditions,” a HCCC statement released this week said.
“In her role as a care service employee, Ms Kalati was afforded significant trust by family members and the wider community to provide a safe environment and deliver appropriate health care to the residents.
“By her repeated, gratuitous assaults on residents, Ms Kalati took advantage of this trust and demonstrated a deliberate disregard for the health and wellbeing of the residents.”
The HCCC has permanently prohibited Kalati from providing any health services in any capacity.Court documents revealed she held a pillow to the face of a 94-year-old man who was suffering with dementia and prostate cancer.
On another occasion, Kalati pushed another victim towards his ‘groin’ area when she was supposed to change his diaper.Kalati who pleaded guilty to seven counts of assault at Burwood Local Court, was sentenced to a seven-month Intensive Correction Order (ICO) last October.
Her ICO, which is a sentence served in the community, is due to expire in May.
EARLIER
BY NICOLE PIERRE ON OCTOBER 19, 2020
An aged care worker who assaulted seven vulnerable elderly residents at a nursing home in Sydney’s inner-west has been schooled by a magistrate who said her conduct was the “antithesis” of what one would expect from a health care worker.
Tovale Kalati, 57, from Yagoona, assaulted seven patients – six men and one female resident – at Presbyterian Aged Care in Ashfield from February to October 2019.
From holding pillows to one victim’s face to pushing towards the ‘groin area’ of another victim, agreed facts tendered to Burwood Court reveal the horrific details of the abuse.
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Kalati had worked at the aged care home for 10 years before her employment was terminated last year after the allegations first came to light.
After a four-month investigation, Burwood detectives swooped on her Palomar Parade home in February where she was arrested and slapped with several counts of assault.
Agreed facts stated she worked at the nursing home for 10 years and that most residents suffered from “debilitating ailments and cognitive decline.”
One male resident who suffered with dementia and prostate cancer was 94 at the time he was assaulted by Kalati on a morning between last February and May.
Kalati and another nurse went to check on the resident at about 5am one morning.
While one nurse was lowering the bed of one resident, she heard “noises” coming from the alleged victim.
“The accused who was standing next to the victim took a pillow with both hands and briefly place it on the victim’s face,” court documents state.
“The accused covered the victim’s face with the pillow for about a second, then lifted the pillow up and laughed at the victim.”
On another occasion, Kalati was to change the diaper of an 86-year-old male resident with another nurse.
When the patient was lying face up, Kalati and the other nurse took off his diaper before Kalati allegedly pushed the victim towards his “groin” area.
Another 82-year-old man was alleged to have been “pushed” towards his room after he was allegedly roaming the hallway last September.
Kalati fronted Burwood Local Court on Wednesday after pleading guilty at the last occasion to seven counts of assault.
In court her lawyer said while each of the complainants were vulnerable and that there was a breach of trust he said the “level of violence” was at the “bottom of the range.”
The court heard Kalati was a widower with two daughters and had been working at nursing homes for 11 years.
He further said she was remorseful and asked for a Community Correction Order to be considered.
Yet the police prosecutor argued for an Intensive Correction Order saying the assaults to the victims, many of which suffered from dementia, occurred over seven months.
She told the court many of victims would not have been able to report the assaults for themselves if it was not for two staff members who had informed police.
“These offences only stopped once she was reported,” she said.
Magistrate Alison Viney said the facts were “extremely sad.”
“All (victims) were vulnerable residents put in the home by their family where they should have undergone specialised care,” she told the court.
“Instances like striking a person on the back of the head and placing a pillow on an individual’s face ... then laughing are certainly the antithesis for what one would expect.”
While Ms Viney said the protection of senior citizens was something the court holds at the “highest priority”, she sentenced Kalati to a seven-month ICO.
She was also ordered to be of good behavior and comply with a treatment plan.
“Ms Tovale Kalati must not provide any health services, either in paid employment or voluntarily, to any member of the public,” according to a statement from the Health Care Complaints Commission.
This interim order remains in force from October 8 for a further period of eight weeks.
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