An Adelaide aged care worker, accused of bashing a patient in 2015, is now employed by a different nursing home — prompting a court to order he be chaperoned at all times. The Adelaide Magistrates Court took action after learning Michael Andrew Mullen had been hired by aged care provider Helping Hand. Mark Griffin, QC, for Mullen, wanted that company’s name suppressed but failed after the media successfully fought his application. He told Magistrate Elizabeth Sheppard that Mullen was being “effectively chaperoned” and was not allowed to attend to patients on his own. But prosecutor Patrick Hill said the current arrangement was not “one-on-one” supervision and asked he have a bail condition in place banning him from his workplace. “In light of the allegations themselves, there will be unnecessary risk to residents at any other aged care facility that the accused might be working,” he said. He said there had been other complaints made against Mullen in other nursing homes — two of which were substantiated and resulted in formal warnings. But Mr Griffin said the prosecution wanted to have Mullen banned from his own employment despite the supervision measures in place. To ensure he would not be alone with patients, Ms Sheppard placed Mullen on bail and made it a condition he be supervised by another care assistant or nurse at all times when dealing with residents. “I’m sceptical about whether a care facility can impose that given we hear they’re so short staffed,” she said. “I want to be assured that if they’re running short staffed he’s not left to his own devices. “We’ll have an inquiry as to whether it is being followed up.” The assault charge has previously been withdrawn by police but was re-laid last August. Mullen is accused of assaulting Elizabeth “Libby” Hannaford, who was 72 at the time, at Southern Cross Care’s Lourdes Valley Residential Care Centre on November 19, 2015. She died at the Repatriation General Hospital in February 2016. Mr Hill said Mullen was on night shift and the only carer to attend to Mrs Hannaford before she was found the next morning with swelling and bruising to her face. He said the sensor mats around her bed had not been triggered, which meant to likelihood of her sustaining the injuries from a fall were “remote”. The court was told the patient in the next bed heard Mullen yell at Mrs Hannaford because she kept pulling out tubes. “She heard him threaten her by saying, ‘if you don’t stop doing this and if I have to come back again, there will be consequences’,” he said. He said the other patient heard Mullen come storming back into the room, heard him hitting Mrs Hannaford repeatedly. The following morning, Mrs Hannaford told her GP that she had been lying in bed and was “thumped in the face”, he told the court. Coroner Mark Johns ordered an inquiry after learning that Ms Hannaford had been assaulted prior to her death — the hospital report made no mention of the attack. Mullen will reappear in court next month.
April 27, 2018
A s.285 (Enterprise agreement) application from St Andrew’s Village Ballina Ltd for its St Andrew’s Village, Ballina Ltd, NSWNMA and HSU NSW Enterprise Agreement 2017-2020 has been approved in its amend form by Fair Work Commissioner Wilson in Melbourne on 26 April 2018.
April 27, 2018
A 77-year-old man has died in hospital after being struck repeatedly by a fellow resident in a dementia residential home. The suspect, whose initials are P.S., is currently being kept in custody that can last up to 30 days. The victim, Z.K., died from a brain hemorrhage. P.S. assaulted Z.K. after an altercation over a TV remote control, “as they were unable to agree on which program to watch.”
April 27, 2018
INDUSTRIAL ACTION – order against industrial action – ss.414, 418 Fair Work Act 2009 – application seeking order for planned industrial action by certain employees of National Patient Transport P/L (NPT) – NPT contended the planned industrial action by United Voice and the ANMF was not protected industrial action because the requirements of s.414(6) of FW Act have not been satisfied – notices did not adequately specify the nature of the action to be taken – application granted in part – Commission found that some of the notified industrial action is or would not be protected industrial action – order made against two notified forms of industrial action – wearing of campaign related materials and distribution of campaign related materials – order issued. National Patient Transport P/L t/a National Patient Transport v United Voice; Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation
April 26, 2018
Manly Warringah Masonic and Community Club will face a s.394 (Application for unfair dismissal remedy) in front of Fair Work Commissioner Cambridge in Hearing Room 12-1 – Level 12 in Sydney at 2pm (Kavanagh).
April 26, 2018
A s.185 (Enterprise agreement) application from OneCare Limited T/A OneCare for its OneCare Ltd Nursing Employees Enterprise Agreement 2017 has been approved by Fair Work Commissioner McKinnon sitting in Melbourne on 24 April 2018.
April 26, 2018
A s.185 (Enterprise agreement) application lodged by Anglicare SA Limited for its Anglicare SA Ltd Childcare Services Agreement 2016 has been agreed by Fair Work Commissioner Wilson sitting in Melbourne on 24 April 2018.
April 26, 2018
A man who once claimed to be Hitler’s son seems to have declared war on his neighbours. Five out of the 10 elderly residents in a Brisbane unit complex have been summoned to court by Michael John O’Hara. O’Hara, 67, moved into a block of housing commission flats on Brisbane’s south side four years ago. “He once did claim to be the son of Hitler,” says Shirley Ryan. “I feel he acts like he’s from the Gestapo.” Shirley says she was summoned to court to defend herself against a peace and good behaviour order O’Hara was applying for. “I won in the Magistrate’s Court and then he appealed to the District Court where he lost again,” says Shirley. Shirley’s neighbour Eunice Pacey says she also won in the Magistrate’s Court when O’Hara claimed she had scratched his car. “I was too sick to go to court,” says Eunice. “So I spoke over the phone. Now, even though I won, O’Hara appealed and I couldn’t get there again so he won and now he wants me to pay the costs.” Karen says she was accused of throwing paint on O’Hara’s car in the carpark. “Of course I didn’t do it,” says Karen. “I did accidently hose his car and the Magistrate found in my favour.” Shirley said one man O’Hara took action against was also forced to pay costs. “He moved out rather than deal with him anymore,” she said. Shirley says the litigation started flying when she asked O’Hara to move his car one day. “He said if I wanted to tell him anything I had to put it in writing,” says Shirley. “I said why, are you a jailbird? It was then he went berserk.” O’Hara did in fact move into the unit block after serving three years of a 10-year jail term for fraud. “I had no idea,” says Shirley. ”But ever since he has been at war with us over nothing.” It is hard to know exactly who O’Hara is. Sixteen years ago a Victorian Court found him guilty of dishonesty when he tried to sell two guns he claimed belonged to Hitler. Two years later he wrote a book, Personal Pistols Of Adolf Hitler, in which he claimed to be the biological son of the former German dictator who was smuggled out of Europe before the end of the Second World War. Then six years ago, after moving to the Gold Coast, he pleaded guilty to aggravated fraud after swindling more than $2 million through a fake investment company. Because he is on parole, we couldn’t ask Mr O’Hara why he seems to delight in taking legal action against his neighbours. Queensland criminal lawyer Bill Potts says the law is designed to stop jailbirds getting publicity or criticising the system after their release. “There is a good reason for the law,” says Mr Potts. “But in this case it seems there’s a man who is using the courts and the complaints system to speak loudly to the public anyway.” Mr Potts’s only advice for O’Hara’s neighbours is to apply in court to have O’Hara declared vexatious and therefore forbidden from taking actions of this kind. “It’s just not fair,” says Shirley. “Why should we be afraid? We are coming to the end of our lives and we should be able to live in peace. This man obviously enjoys it, he really gets a kick out of it you can see.” The Queensland Housing Department said in a statement it was aware of a “long-standing dispute” between some tenants at a property in Yeerongpilly, and was working with them to resolve the issue. “The department will continue working with tenants, and if necessary, will work with other relevant government agencies in a bid to find a resolution,” the statement read.
