Four carers have been caught abusing a dementia-stricken grandmother after her family members grew suspicious of cuts and bruises on her body and hid a camera in her bedroom.
Beryl Wall, 89, began to get bruises on her face and wrists while staying at a care home in Wolverhampton, igniting concern from her granddaughters Rebecca and Danielle Hinsley.
Mrs Wall had vascular dementia and could not speak, according to police, so her family put a photo frame with a hidden camera in her bedroom in February 2020.
Four days of footage showed the grandmother being handled roughly, hit with a pillow and treated with a lack of dignity, the BBC reported.
The recording also showed the workers shouting at Mrs Wall, holding her legs up in the air and pinching her face.
Beryl Wall, 89, (centre) began to get bruises on her face and wrists while staying at a care home in Wolverhampton, igniting concern from her granddaughters Rebecca and Danielle Hinsley
Ame Tunkara, Morounranti Adefila, Danny Ohen and Bridget Aideyan were found guilty and jailed at the end of 2023.
The elderly woman had been staying at the home for a year and had become nervous and scared to be touched, detectives said, with bruises showing up on her arm.
Her granddaughter Danielle said: ‘Knowing they spent Christmas and new year away from their families is the best punishment.
‘We visited nan every day as this happened before lockdown.
‘Her behaviour had changed, she had bruises. So I went home and ordered a picture frame camera off Amazon and put a picture of me, my sister and my nan in it.’
When the granddaughter viewed the footage several days later, she said she was heartbroken.
In a lot of the footage the elderly grandmother was naked and confused, according to Danielle.
Ame Tunkara, Morounranti Adefila, Danny Ohen and Bridget Aideyan were found guilty and jailed at the end of 2023
The two sisters gave their evidence to the care home managers, the Care Quality Commission and West Midlands Police.
Three members of staff were immediately dismissed and three other agency staff were suspended after relatives reported the abuse.
Police added that two more suspects were identified after the footage was investigated.
Following a trial, eight care assistants were charged and four were found not guilty.
Tunkara, 33, of Walsall, and Adefila, 43, of Wolverhampton, were found guilty of ill-treatment and wilful neglect and sentenced to four months in prison.
Ohen, 39, and Aideyan, 49, both from Wolverhampton, were also found guilty of the same offences and sentenced to six months and four months respectively.
The family did not want to name the care home, which is under new management, caring for Mrs Wall until her death in October last year.
‘We believe nan waited for the trial to end because she took a turn quite quickly when we told her the verdict,’ said Danielle.