CCTV at Derbyshire Nursing Home catches care worker abusing vulnerable residents
Care worker, Sharlene Bosita, has pled guilty to abusing residents of Ashgate House Nursing Home in Derbyshire more than 37 times over a five-day period. This week at Derby Crown Court, she was sentenced to nine months’ imprisonment.
Bosita’s abuse of the vulnerable residents, all of which were in their 80’s and had dementia, was caught on CCTV footage. Bosita was caught after her colleagues found footage of her pushing a resident into a chair in July 2022. This sparked investigation which brought Bosita to justice.
Bosita was filmed committing over 37 abusive acts against residents including ‘mimicking’ and ‘laughing’ at residents, throwing water at them, slapping a resident’s face with a glove, lifting residents’ nightgowns, leaving a resident wandering the property naked, and even lifting a resident by their legs. In this footage, residents were heard crying. One resident pleaded with Bosita not to hurt them.
Ashgate House Nursing Home is a specialist care home for persons over the age of 65 who have Dementia. These residents are highly vulnerable people, and many cannot speak up if they experience mistreatment.
The sentencing judge, Recorder Sunil Khanna, handed down a stark and firm judgment to Sharlene saying, ‘You believed you were being firm but being firm does not allow you to hit someone in the face with a glove, or throw water and laugh at them. That’s not being firm, that’s you being abusive. You are in complete denial of your actions.’
Senior Crown Prosecutor Graham Heathcote described Bosita as behaving ‘with callous cruelty’ towards the people she was under a duty to protect. He stated, ‘there can be no doubt that her actions will have caused significant emotional and physical harm to her victims.’
Bosita’s actions are a horrific abuse of her position of trust to have humiliated, taunted, and harmed vulnerable residents. These individuals are in their 80’s and have Dementia. They should have been protected and cared for. I hope that these victims of Bosita’s cruelty are receiving support and are able to rebuild trust in their caregivers now that Bosita will be serving a prison sentence.
In my work, survivors of repeated acts of abuse describe feeling afraid or unsure of how to report abuse, blaming themselves for what happened, and struggling with serious mental health difficulties. I welcome the words from the Court and the Crown Prosecution making it clear how serious acts of abuse are and that they are crimes. Survivors of abuse can also bring civil claims against their abusers. Survivors can be represented by their own legal team, which is separate from the police and not part of any criminal case. A successful civil claim can provide victims with compensation for the pain and suffering caused to them, as well as a sense of justice.
If you or someone you know has experienced abuse and would like to speak about bringing a claim for compensation, you can contact me or my colleagues in our specialist abuse team directly. I am a solicitor that acts solely on behalf of survivors of abuse, and I can offer you free, no-obligation, advice about your rights.
