Thursday, December 23, 2010

Two Women Convicted of Elder Abuse

One man was convicted, too. Why do I draw attention to the women in particular? Simple - because feminists deny that women are ever violent or abusive for any reason at all. Nobody seriously denies that a small minority of men are capable of doing things like this, but feminists tell us, with a straight face, that violence is just what men do, and that women would never do anything to harm another human being.

Time and time again, it appears that they are wrong.

Another nail in the coffin of feminist jurisprudence - note that the women did not simply receive lighter sentences for being female, as usually happens:

Bupa care home staff tormented dementia victims and recorded their 'despicable' acts on their mobile phones

They were elderly, suffering from advanced Alzheimer’s Disease and needed the best possible care at their Bupa nursing home.

Instead the frail residents were bullied, assaulted and terrorised by care workers who recorded their ‘despicable’ behaviour on their mobile phones for fun.

Yesterday the ‘appalling’ video footage of a vulnerable 99-year-old woman and a man of 86 being mistreated by their three carers led to the carers being jailed.

The five minutes of blurred video, which was played at Bradford Crown Court, shows the carers laughing at the helpless pensioners, grabbing and poking them, taunting them and shoving phones into their face and mouth.

The elderly man, Kenneth Costigan, has an expression of ‘stark terror’ on his face, and is shown ‘cowering’ and burying his head in his hands in ‘utter despair’.

Edith Askham, who died later aged 100, is shown being bullied and treated roughly as she sits helplessly on the floor pleading ‘help me…I am frightened’.

Recorder Richard Mansell, QC, was clearly outraged by the defendants’ actions, which he described as ‘inhuman and degrading’.

The judge said supervisor Paul Poole, 26, and assistant care workers Jolene Hullah, 21, and Tanzeela Safdar, 23, had committed a ‘gross breach of trust’.

Earlier, when it was suggested that Hullah, who was 19 at the time, had not received adequate training, the judge was barely able to conceal his fury commenting: ‘You don’t need training in ordinary human decency.

‘This is a feature that unfortunately seems to be part of general life. The first instinct of people when they do something wrong is to start casting blame elsewhere. This is about taking responsibility for your actions.’

Referring to the victims, the judge said: ‘Although they were elderly and very ill they still had their dignity.

‘Your job was to provide them with a dignified level of care in the last years of their lives. With these despicable acts of abuse you stripped Mr Costigan and Mrs Askham of their dignity for your own amusement and gratification.

‘Of those who sat in court today and watched the video footage from your mobile phones, nobody could have failed to be appalled by your sick conduct.’

The defendants, all from Bradford, each admitted two offences of ill treatment of persons lacking mental capacity. The new offence, carrying a maximum five-year jail term, was created by the 2005 Mental Capacity Act.

Recorder Mansell ignored pleas to spare the defendants from jail. Hullah was sent to prison for 18 months, while Safdar, who was described as the ‘most culpable’, was jailed for 21 months.
Poole, who fainted in the dock, was given 12 months. All will be released after serving half their sentence.

Prosecutor Jonathan Sharp told the court the offences took place at the Dales Nursing Home in Bradford between December 2008 and February 2009. The Bupa home specialises in caring for people with dementia.

The victims were ‘particularly vulnerable to abuse’ as they were ‘unlikely to complain’ and had poor short-term memories.

The convictions were only made possible because police recovered the damning video footage from the two women’s mobile phones.

... Several excerpts show Mr Costigan sitting in his room being ‘taunted’ and physically abused by his laughing carers.

Hullah is seen pushing the phone into his face, imitating and teasing him and on another occasion assaulting him.

Mr Sharp said Mr Costigan’s dementia ‘causes him to swear’ and the carers found it funny to provoke his foul-mouthed outbursts.

They put a phone in his mouth and later as he becomes ‘upset and agitated’ Hullah screams at him and ‘pulls at his right thumb in a way that will have induced considerable pain’.

Safdar then ‘tries to grab his nose’ and ‘pushes both her hands into his mouth.’ As a result, Mr Costigan ‘holds his head in his hands and is plainly distressed’, said Mr Sharp.

Poole, the key worker designated with responsibility for his care, watched and failed to intervene.

Another video shows Safdar and another woman mistreating Edith Askham, who suffered from advanced dementia and was incontinent and ‘incoherent’. She is shown sitting on the floor away from her wheelchair and ‘holding out her arms for help’.

Mr Sharp said the carers did nothing to help her, ‘thrust the phone into her face’ and recorded her indignity. The other woman, Hannah Parveen, is believed to have fled to Pakistan.

Hullah later claimed she had just been ‘messing about’ and Safdar said she was just ‘playing around’. Poole claimed he said nothing because he was afraid of retribution from Hullah.

Amazingly, the two women were given longer sentences than the man - in direct contradiction to what feminist jurisprudence tells us should happen (punish the man! Let the women go!)

And did you catch that at the end? The man, Paul Poole, did not speak up about the abuse because he was afraid of retribution from one of the women. This is precisely the situation that feminism has brought into the workplace - even disagreeing with a woman can get a man hauled up before a tribunal. It's hardly surprising, in these circumstances, that a man would fail to intervene where a woman is being abusive - there's a good chance that he will become her next victim.

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