An allegation that a worker shoved a Wet Wipe towelette into a dementia patient’s mouth to silence her at an aged care home was made due to “bad blood” that had developed between workmates, Manly Local Court heard on Friday. The court heard a work colleague complained to management that care service employee Anita Prajapati, 31, also allegedly slapped the woman, aged in her late 80s, after she screamed while her clothes were being changed. Mr Prajapati’s workmate, Larissa Daley, accused her of shoving a “scrunched-up” towelette into the elderly woman’s mouth at Peter Cosgrove House — a high-care unit at the RSL “War Vets” home at Narrabeen on November 1 last year. The court heard the 31-year-old was suspended after Ms Daley told management she saw Ms Prajapati allegedly assault the elderly patient, who cannot be named for legal reasons. Ms Prajapati has pleaded not guilty to one charge of common assault. The court was told that Ms Daley had been upset that Ms Prajapati had criticised her standard of work on a number of occasions, including using her mobile phone while feeding dementia patients, and that she had “belittled” Ms Daley in front of their colleagues. Another colleague, Sujan Bista-Basnet, told the court on Friday that she had seen Ms Daley become angry and aggressive with Ms Prajapati after she criticised Ms Daley’s work. When giving evidence in May, Ms Daley, told the court she and Ms Prajapati were helping the patient move from a chair to her bed at 2.30pm when the elderly woman, who can no longer talk, screamed out. “That’s when Anita slapped her in the mouth and said: ‘Stop that’,” Ms Daley said. Ms Daley said a few moments later, when she and Ms Prajapati were trying to undress the patient, the elderly woman screamed out again. “(Anita) put the Wet Wipe in her mouth and said: ‘I told you to stop that’,” Ms Daley said. “It ended up scrunched up in her mouth.” Ms Daley did not report the alleged assault until 4.30pm, after she and Ms Prajapati attended to two more patients. Management then contacted police. Ms Prajapati denied slapping the elderly woman or placing the towelette in her mouth. She told the court that she had only wiped food from around the patient’s mouth as they prepared her for bed. Ms Prajapati’s barrister Derek Shridhar, said Ms Daley had an “axe to grind” with his client. “There is a level of bad blood between them,” Mr Shridhar said. “Ms Daley wants to get (Ms Prajapati) off her back. She makes a complaint and beats it up significantly.” Outside court Ms Prajapati said the allegation against her was “really not fair”. Magistrate Michelle Goodwin reserved her decision and adjourned the matter to August 26.
