A former healthcare assistant has been sentenced to a two year probation order after she filmed and photographed vulnerable dementia patients in an act of ‘humiliation’
A twisted carer who recorded humiliating films of dementia patients in the bath and posted them online has been slammed for her cruel and sadistic behaviour.
Healthcare assistant Ciara Corvan, 28, from Armagh in Northern Ireland was sentenced to a two-year probation order and will have to complete 100 hours of community service after she was found to broken safeguarding rules by photographing and filming her ‘vulnerable’ patients, which she would often share with degrading comments online.
Corvan reportedly sent pics to co-workers via image sharing app Snapchat of a female patient having a bath, as well as a video in which she forced another to ‘have a rave’ by shaking their hand while loud music played while working at Bluestone Unit of Craigavon Area Hospital in 2023.
A police spokesperson slammed the Brit’s behaviour, describing her as having taken advantage of ‘ patients and showing the “lack of morals in this social media generation”.
Detective Chief Inspector Claire McDonald said: “The victims in this case are some of the most vulnerable in our society and were always at the centre of this investigation.
They and their family’s depended on former Health Care Assistant Ciara Corvan to take care of them and they trusted that she maintained their health and their dignity as part of her care role. She did not.
“The victims were subjected to degrading and mocking behaviour. Corvan exploited their vulnerabilities, specifically their lack of capacity and communication for her own entertainment. Today her actions are proven criminal, in the first case of its kind for Northern Ireland.
“She took advantage of the fact that our family members were suffering from a disease that meant they could not even communicate what they had endured.
We now live every day with the thoughts that our loved ones had no way of saying or showing how much of the fear or the pain that she caused lingered with them until their final days.”
Detective McDonald issued a warning to other care staff who may be producing similar content, saying: ““It has been shown today that this is criminal behaviour.
If you are in a position of trust and care and not taking that position seriously, heed this warning. Please stop and think – if that was your mother or father, how would you want them to be treated?”