A 42-year-old caregiver identified as Bilikesu Olagunju was caught on camera maltreating a pensioner, John Attard, 88, at his home in Bexley Kent, UK days before his death.
Hearing the case, the court learned that Olagunju landed in trouble after she was caught on CCTV violently manhandling a frail elderly man with dementia.
The footage showed her hurling him around just days before he died.
Olagunju, who had been in the job for barely six days was captured in a the 45-minute video showed the ordeal from which the great-grandfather never recovered, according to his family.
According to Mail Online, Olagunju, who at the time was employed by Unique Personnel UK, stripped Mr Attard, threatened to beat him up, and even dragged him across his living room floor.
She is also said to have ignored the elderly man as he repeatedly told her she was ‘hurting’ him.
At one point, Olagunju tells him:’Maybe I will beat you up. I will flog you. I will take you to the GP to get injections. I will call the police on you.’
She was filmed in the victim’s home on Christmas Eve 2022 on a camera set up by his son Chris.
The following day, Mr Attard was found unresponsive – with blood dripping down the side of his face.
The pensioner was rushed to hospital, where he remained unresponsive, and died ten days after the incident.
Olagunju pleaded guilty to one count of ill-treating or willfully neglecting an individual while acting as a care worker.
The judge gave her a six-week prison sentence, suspended her for 18 months, while also being ordered to carry out 50 hours’ unpaid work, at Woolwich Crown Court in south-east London.
Speaking after the hearing, the victim’s son Chris Attard condemned her sentence as an ‘insult’.
He said that although a post-mortem could not prove it, he felt Olagunju’s actions had directly contributed to his father’s sudden decline and death.
He said:”If those cameras had not been there, that person could still be out there treating elderly people like this.”
“I was expecting a suspended sentence, but the length and community service aspect is an insult. What kind of a deterrent is that?”
The court received a breakdown of the CCTV footage, beginning with Olagunju arriving at 11.20am with the job of washing Mr Attard and making him breakfast.
After shouting at him to stand, he slips on the floor and as she struggles to dress him, she is seen stripping him in front of a window in full view of the street.
The carer is also shown dragging him by the arm and scruff of his collar across the floor and ‘yanking’ him up, causing ‘great distress’, the court was told.
At one point, the defendant is heard calling her employer to explain that Mr Attard was on the floor and was advised not to touch him and to call an ambulance.
The defendant ignores this request, and instead continued to haul him up herself while complaining ‘a man’ should have been sent to do the job.
She is also seen in the footage taunting Mr Attard by pouring marmalade into his coffee despite knowing he was diabetic and threatening to ‘flog’ him.
Chris Attard said he was horrified by how visibly distressed his father looked throughout, describing his face as ‘distorted’ while being ‘manhandled.’
He added: “She is physically trying to lift him like a rag doll. His face indicates the discomfort and pain he is feeling.”
“She lifts him off the floor, dragging him toward his armchair. He tells her: “My head is banging.”
The carer is heard on the footage saying to Mr. Attard:’Me, I’ll flog you, flog you’, later adding: ‘Maybe I’ll beat you up. I’ll flog you. Take you to hospital, take you to GP to give injections and police.”
She is repeatedly told by Mr. Attard throughout: “You are hurting me”.
The footage shows her making breakfast while continuing to threaten violence and picking up a plastic marmalade sachet, squeezing its contents into his coffee.
At Olagunju’s sentencing hearing, prosecutor James Benson said her conduct towards Mr. Attard had taken multiple forms including ‘rough handling, verbal aggression, and degrading treatment’.
He described her actions as ‘brusque, inappropriate, and uncaring’ and said she ‘played on her victim’s vulnerability’.
The victim’s son Chris Attard broke down in tears as he delivered a statement to the court, saying:’The autopsy could not conclusively prove the carer was responsible – but the autopsy showed he had bruising on the left side of his chest.
‘It was Christmas morning when I found my 88-year-old father unresponsive in bed. He was rushed to hospital and his room was declared a crime scene.
‘This was the morning after he was physically and verbally assaulted by the very person entrusted to care for him.
‘Three days after he was admitted to hospital I wrote a victim impact statement.My last words read:”I am yet to discover the long-term effect this may have on my dad, and his physical and mental welfare.”
‘Well, now I know – he never recovered and died seven days later in hospital.’
Addressing Olagunju directly, he said: “An autopsy could not link your actions to his death – but I feel personally that your actions, in part, contributed to his sudden de@th.”
Chris described his father, who had five children, 11 grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren, as ‘kind-hearted, generous, compassionate, and funny’, adding:’He was still enjoying what life he had left.’