A senior care worker at a Deal residential home subjected a mentally ill-patient to horrific abuse after losing her temper, a jury has decided.

Colleagues of Jenny Bushell watched in horror as she shoved a faeces-stained flannel into the mouth of her helpless victim.

The 59-year-old care worker then told the woman she was going to be "treated like a dog" and was then subjected to a cold shower.

One worker at the Homeleigh Residential Home in Sondes Road revealed: “I had never seen something so nasty and aggressive.”

Bushell, 59, of Quern Road denied two charges of ill treating the resident – but after deliberating for more than five hours the jury at Canterbury Crown Court delivered unanimous guilty verdicts.

Prosecutor Patrick Dennis told Judge Nigel Van Der Bijl that the victim’s health deteriorated after her ordeal – but has since recovered.

Bushell was given bail for the preparation of a probation report and will be sentenced in September.

"The resident was petrified. She ran back to her room afterwards like a frightened little girl..." - Bushell's colleague

Lian Cavell had told a jury how she saw Bushell push a faeces-stained flannel into the mouth of the vulnerable woman.

She said that Bushell also made the terrified resident stand against a wall “like a prisoner” with her arms out-stretched.

Ms Cavell wept as she remembered: “Afterwards, I was frightened because I had never seen something so nasty and aggressive as Jenny did that day!”

She said the resident was regarded as a “vulnerable adult” at the home in June last year.

She told how she had gone to get her ready just after 8am when Bushell, who was in charge on that Sunday, came into the room “like a bull in a china shop”.

Ms Cavell continued: “She went to the patient and started shouting: ‘Get the f*** out of bed’ and dragging her.

“She had hold of her arm and leg and spun her around saying: ‘Get out of bed you f***** lazy b****. You are disgusting’.

“I was standing near a wardrobe. I was absolutely gobsmacked and shocked," she added.

Bushell then washed the resident so hard she left marks as she pressed down on her skin and then cleaned her teeth with such force it drew “what looked to me like blood” from her mouth.

Ms Cavell said a second incident took place the same day when the woman – who was incontinent – soiled herself.

She was taken to the shower room, where Bushell made her have a cold shower telling her: “You want to act like an animal then I will treat you like an animal and shower you like a dog.”

Ms Cavell said that Bushell then put a soiled flannel in the woman’s mouth, adding: “The resident was petrified. She ran back to her room afterwards like a frightened little girl.”

Carer Jane Athaide told the jury how in the afternoon she heard shouting coming from the shower room.

"It was Jenny shouting and I went in because I thought maybe she needed help."

She said that she heard Bushell tell the patient she would treat her like a dog after turning on the cold shower.

"She was shouting: 'You are not a woman..you are a dog'

"I froze. I had never seen anything like that before. I was in shock I had never seen that before.

"I couldn't speak. I just froze. I was in total shock. I wish that I had said something but I just couldn't speak."

The court heard that since the incident Bushell was disciplined by the home and then sacked.

---

Stories you might have missed

'You will die a painful and horrible death'

Station to ease Stack tailbacks

Drink and drug-free festival cancelled due to lack of interest

Police hunt under way as car hits houses

---