A DEMENTIA sufferer, who was supposed to be receiving 24-hour care, was found dead with blood coming from his ears, mouth and nose, a court heard yesterday.

Jury members in the trial of seven people charged with wilful neglect heard evidence from mental health nurse, John Barry Alder, who used to work at Mountleigh Care Home, in Newbridge.

Alan Sayers, 52, was found dead in his room in the early hours of September 27, 2004.

Mr Alder told the court he learned of Mr Sayers’ death when he arrived for his day shift.

He said he went into Mr Sayers’s room with a police officer and said Mr Sayers’ had a look of fear on his face and had a trickle of blood coming from his ear and around his mouth and nose.

He accompanied GP Sushma Ohja when she examined Mr Sayers’ body and when Mr Alder turned the body over he said there was blood all over the left side of the face. Mr Alder said Mr Sayers was lying in faeces.

The court heard Mr Alder questioned Ohja when she stated cardiac arrest as the cause of death, due to the blood on Mr Sayers’ face, but Mr Alder said Ohja told him it was “not unusual.”

Julia Hayhoe, who was employed as an agency care assistant, said she was appointed as Mr Sayers’ carer soon after she started working at Mountleigh.

She said it was her job to administer one-to-one care during her 2pm to 12pm shift. Ms Hayhoe said that when management were not in, she was told by the qualified nurses to leave Mr Sayers’ after 8pm if he was asleep and help with other duties.

Proceeding

Care home staff and doctor on trial

Mountleigh Care Home general manager Dawn Harris, 52, of Raglan Mews, Newport and care manager Enda Evans, 56, of Glyn Derw, Caerphilly, are jointly charged with wilfully neglecting Alan Sayers between December 18, 2002 and September 28, 2004.

Care assistants Rosslyn Jenkins, 54, of Alexandra Place, Newbridge, and Michael Lurvey, 54, of Greenfield, Newbridge, qualified nurse Musediq Salisu, 47, of Viscount Evan Drive, Newport, and agency care assistants Margaret Lewis, 60, of Prospect Place, Cwmbran, and Chengeta Kaziboni, 34, of Cowbridge Road West, Cardiff, are jointly charged with wilfully neglecting Alan Sayers between September 25 and September 28 2004.

GP Sushma Ohja, 55, of Hillside Park, Bargoed, is charged with making false representations on Mr Sayers’s death certificate and cremation certificate and also falsely obtaining £50.70 from Gwent Police by claiming she attended the home in her capacity as a police doctor.

The care home is now called Millview House and Lodge and is run by Southern Cross Care Homes.