A Highland carer took an elderly disabled man to a country music festival where she downed pints of wine and then abandoned him.
Rhona Duncan, 50, left the wheelchair-bound man on his own at the Thainstone Agricultural Centre music event then got drunk, acted “obnoxiously” and flirted with men, Aberdeen Sheriff Court was told.
Staff at the venue contacted police after they became concerned about the welfare of the man, who tearfully told officers he felt “uncared for”.
When police spoke to Duncan later that night she was unremorseful, telling them: “Do you think I need this for £12 an hour?”
In the dock, Duncan pleaded guilty to one charge of ill-treating or wilfully neglecting a person in her care by becoming intoxicated while working as a carer.
Fiscal depute Peter Finnon told the court that on June 3 last year Duncan and the man, who is in his 60s, travelled from Dingwall to Aberdeenshire, where they checked into a hotel and went to the Thainstone 5 Country Music Festival.
At some point during the evening, members of the public became aware that Duncan had left the man alone at a table with people he didn’t know.
A member of the security staff was notified and she went to speak to Duncan, who was unsteady on her feet and carrying a pint-sized cup of wine.
Mr Finnon said the Thainstone worker thought Duncan was acting “obnoxiously” and was being “flirtatious with other males at the event”.
The security member was “very concerned” for the man’s welfare and continued to check on him throughout the night.
“She then felt it was necessary to contact the police where she reported her concern,” Mr Finnon said.
Man began crying as he believed he was somehow in trouble
“When police arrived and spoke to the complainer, he confided that he did not want to leave the event with Ms Duncan, who had left him for the majority of the night.
“Police then spoke to Ms Duncan, who denied that she had left him for most of the evening and claimed she had only had two glasses of wine.
“The man then repeated that he didn’t want to leave with Ms Duncan as he felt ‘uncared for’.”
Mr Finnon added that as police were speaking to him, the man began crying as he believed he was somehow in trouble over what had happened.
When police asked for Duncan’s mobile number, she discovered she had lost her phone, which was found 100 metres away in the car park at the festival.
Carer Rhona Duncan was unremorseful
As the police drove Duncan back to her hotel they noted that she showed “no remorse” for her behaviour and repeatedly stated: “Do you think I need this for £12 an hour?”
Defence solicitor Alex Burn told the court his client “accepts her culpability” in relation to what happened that night.
“Ms Duncan accepts that she was away for more than half an hour, like she claimed that night,” he said.
“She had consumed a large quantity of alcohol and regrets it”.
Sheriff Robert Vaughn sentenced Duncan, of MacRae Grove, Dingwall, to a four-month structured deferred sentence in order for her to be of good behaviour.
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