Áras Attracta care assistant cleared of assault

CLEARED Anna Botsimbo arriving at a District Court sitting in Ballina in 2015. Pic: Keith Heneghan

Judge accepts that care assistant pulled resident by hoody to prevent injury

AN Áras Attracta care assistant who was accused of assaulting a resident of the Swinford care centre was acquitted of the charge at a special sitting of Castlebar District Court yesterday (Monday).
Anna Botsimbo (35) of 8 Lower Park Avenue, Charlestown, was charged with the assault on a resident known as Miss A when she was accused of pulling her by the hood of her jumper on November 14, 2014.
The incident, which occurred in Bungalow 3 of Áras Attracta, was recorded as part of an RTÉ Investigations Unit programme on the care centre. The programme aired shortly after the incident occurred.
The video coverage, shown to yesterday’s court sitting, showed Ms Botsimbo pulling Miss A by the hood before putting her sitting in a chair in the corner of the room.
Ms Botsimbo denied the charge of assault and claimed she held Miss A by the hood because she was afraid she was going to bang her head off a coffee table. The court heard that Miss A had a detached retina and staff were told to ensure she did not bang her head as it may result in loss of vision.
“It was an emergency situation when I had to protect a client from hitting her head off the table. I didn’t use any force. I just steered her in her comfort chair,” she told the court.
Judge Aeneas McCarthy accepted Ms Botsimbo’s explanation, and as a result dismissed the charge against her.
“Ms Botsimbo certainly took her by the hood but she also placed her arm around her and gently eased her to her comfort chair. What I saw in the video and the evidence before the court does not constitute an assault,” Judge McCarthy said.
A Polish national, Ms Botsimbo was one of six members of the Áras Attracta staff to be charged with assault on residents as a result of incidents seen in the undercover footage. The five other defendants were found guilty of assault by Judge Mary Devins in hearings that took place in February, and all received sentences of community service.
Judge Devins recused herself from the case against Ms Botsimbo, as she felt compromised after hearing information on Ms Botsimbo from a garda interview before the case was heard. As a result, the case had to be heard before a different judge.
Detective Sergeant James Carroll told the court that on November 27, 2014, he started an investigation into the incidents at Áras Attracta and the following day met with Paul Maguire of RTÉ. The tapes were handed to him on December 5, 2014.
The court heard that Miss A is non-verbal and gardaí relied on the video footage to form a prosecution. When Ms Botsimbo was questioned by gardaí, she said what occurred was not acceptable but was ‘the way I was shown to do it’.
Mr AJ Gallagher, Assistant Programme Director of Áras Attracta, told the court he denied knowing of any difficulties in Bungalow 3 before the RTÉ programme but accepted that it was a difficult environment in which to work.
The court heard that Miss A has a severe learning disability and had a history of assaulting members of staff. Mr Gallagher said she is currently in new accommodation in Áras Attracta where she is one of only two residents and has 70 percent of the building to herself.
He explained that there are eight full-time staff looking after her, and at least two staff look after her at all times.
When asked by Mr Peter Flynn, solicitor for Ms Botsimbo, if the treatment at the time was inappropriate, he responded that relative to the service Miss A is receiving at the moment, it was a ‘fair comment’.
In her defence, Ms Botsimbo described Miss A as very active and challenging and was prone to self injury. Regarding the incident, she said Miss A was putting a ball under a table and as her head was close to the table, she pulled on her hoody as she was afraid she would hit her head.
When asked by her solicitor, Mr Peter Flynn if she would have done anything any different, she replied, “If I could I would but it was an emergency situation. I had to react the way I did to protect my client.”