Allegations of Assault

Mr X was a married man who had previously been a teacher but since 2014 decided to change career to work as a Care Assistant. Mr X had plenty of experience and completed lots of training. He had worked in a variety of private care homes and had always been an exceptional worker with a good reputation. He had never been in any sort of trouble previously.

Mr X was working at a care home when an allegation of wilful neglect was made against him.

On the night in question Mr X was working a night shift with an agency nurse and two other care assistants. He was putting residents to bed in the usual way when he was approached by the nurse who requested help with an elderly patient who suffers with dementia as he was in the office scattering things around.  Mr X agreed to the Nurse’s request for help and escorted the resident away from the office and assisted him to his bedroom.

Mr X transferred the resident to the bed. As Mr X began to change the patient in to his pyjamas he began to kick out and began to hit Mr X, which was a regular occurrence with this resident due to his condition. At this point Mr X applied the safe handling techniques using open palms which he was trained to do during Manual and People handling courses to prevent him being struck. At this point the nurse walked in to the room and appeared unhappy.

As a result of the strikes from the elderly dementia patient, Mr X had to attend hospital where he was admitted and kept in overnight due to abdominal pains.

When Mr X returned to work he discovered that the nurse subsequently reported Mr X to the police stating that she had witnessed an assault and described Mr X as using “an open palm to strike the chest of the resident”. Mr X was immediately suspended from work.

Mr X was then interviewed by the Police where he did not seek legal advice and was subsequently charged and taken to Court. It was at this stage that Mr X contacted Allington Hughes Law.

Mr X denied assaulting the patient in any way and described in detail that he did have contact with the patient using open palms but this was the method he was taught to do so in the Manual and People handling course.

The Magistrates’ court deemed the allegation too serious to be dealt with at the Magistrates’ Court and sent the case to the Crown Court.

Allington Hughes Law instructed a specialist criminal barrister to represent Mr X at the Crown Court. The case lasted for some 12 months before the trial date. Before the case began the Barrister had raised with the Judge that he had concerns about the weaknesses in the Prosecution evidence against Mr X. The Barrister advised the Judge that he intended to make an application that there was no case for Mr X to answer. Following this the Judge advised the Prosecution to reconsider their position.

Following a review of their case the Crown Prosecution Service concluded that they no longer wished to proceed to trial and they offered no evidence. This concluded the matter and Mr X’s good character remains intact.

If you require more information regarding assault allegations or any other criminal matter then please contact our criminal team on 01978 291000 or email [email protected]