A Nigerian caregiver, Bilikesu Olagunju, has been sentenced to six weeks in prison, suspended for 18 months, and ordered to complete 50 hours of unpaid work for violently mistreating an 88-year-old dementia patient in his UK home.
The abuse was captured on hidden camera, showing Olagunju dragging the elderly man across the floor, stripping him, and threatening violence, just a day before he was found unresponsive and later died in hospital.
The shocking CCTV footage, filmed on Christmas Eve 2022, revealed Olagunju’s horrific treatment of Mr. Attard, who was in her care for just six days. Despite the patient’s repeated cries of pain, Olagunju continued to abuse him, ignoring advice from her employer not to move him when he fell to the floor.
Mr. Attard’s son, Chris, described the footage as distorted with discomfort and pain, and expressed outrage at the lenient sentence. If those cameras had not been there, that person could still be out there treating elderly people like this, he said.
The court heard that Olagunju had not received sufficient training to care for patients with dementia, and that her actions were a failure to treat Mr. Attard with dignity and respect. Judge Charlotte Welsh said it was beyond belief that someone would be allocated an elderly man with dementia as their first client without proper training.
Chris Attard has now turned his attention to Unique Personnel UK, the care agency that employed Olagunju, accusing them of negligence.
They should have been in the dock alongside, he said. Had they done their due diligence, she never would have been sent near an elderly person.
