A former Illawarra aged care worker has been found not guilty of assaulting five vulnerable dementia patients between October and December last year, vowing to “never” work in the profession again. Shakuntala Mudaliar broke down in tears at Wollongong Local Court on Thursday, after Magistrate Mark Douglass found her not guilty of spraying cleaning chemicals in an elderly woman’s face, and swearing and slapping several others. Magistrate Douglass acquitted her of allegations she assaulted three women and two men, aged between 74 and 87, at the Warrigal Warilla aged care facility between October and December 2018, finding the lead witnesses to the alleged crimes “lacked credibility”. During the two-day hearing, the court heard allegations raised by two of Mudaliar’s colleagues, Anu Mohan and Roshiny Ditto, that she had mistreated patients on several occasions. Mr Mohan alleged he saw his colleague “slap” an elderly female resident in October 2018, but was too scared to report it because she was “more senior” than he was and because he “didn’t have any evidence”. But, after becoming fed-up with Mudaliar’s “rude, disrespectful and bullying” ways, he claimed he alerted his manager to the alleged slap in December. Ms Ditto alleged she had witnessed her former friend assault three different patients at the aged care home. One of the most disturbing allegations raised was that Mudaliar sprayed cleaning chemicals in an elderly woman’s face sometime during December last year. However, on Thursday Ms Ditto went back on her prior evidence, and told the court the alleged act might have been an accident. After an investigation into Mudaliar’s alleged mistreatment was launched by Warrigal, the court heard her manager Aileen King asked Ms Ditto to write down all of the alleged incidents she had witnessed. On Thursday, it was revealed to the court Ms Ditto never mentioned the cleaning spray incident in the letter, only making the allegation to police days later. After each of the alleged incidents, which also involved Mudaliar slapping victim’s on their face, arms and legs, Ms Ditto told the court she did not report them to senior management, because she was “scared” and because no one else was doing so either. In handing down his verdict, Magistrate Douglass said he found it difficult to believe that people working in an aged care home would not immediately report the mistreatment of vulnerable patients. “To think employees in a care centre would not immediately report what they saw does not have a ring of truth,” he said. He also said Ms Ditto’s evidence about Mudaliar spraying chemicals in the elderly woman’s eyes was unbelievable, given Ms Ditto did not mention in it in her detailed report to Ms King. “I’m satisfied that just did not happen,” he said. On Thursday, the court also heard from Sarla Singh, former facility manager at Warrigal Warilla, who said she had never once received a complaint about Mudaliar’s treatment of residents during her three year term of employment. “I never saw her do something that wasn’t right, she always completed her training and education, she was a calm and good worker,” she said. “As a manager you get all sorts of complaints, but I never had one about Tala [Mudaliar].” After hearing from other aged care workers about how force was sometimes necessary to assist patients at Warrigal Warilla, and from Mudaliar’s initial interview with police, Magistrate Douglass found that any touching of the residents she engaged in was “lawful”, finding her not guilty of all five common assault charges. In response to the not guilty finings, Mudaliar’s defence lawyer Stephen Russell lodged an application for costs, noting Mudaliar was dismissed from her role as a carer at Warrigal Warilla they day the allegations were raised. “When she was sacked, she’s had no income for 12 months or more now,” he said outside court. “It’s been very difficult for her financially and emotionally, she wants to put it all behind her now.” Mudaliar told waiting media she was “very happy” with the not guilty finding and said she would “never” work in aged care again.
