A care home worker has been convicted of dragging a naked resident along a corridor and leaving him with carpet burns.
Leslie Poole told a court he would “do the same again” and tried to blame a lack of training for the assault on his autistic victim.
The 61-year-old first offender had denied the attack – but was found guilty after a three-day trial at Inverness Sheriff Court.
Sentence was deferred for background reports.
Sheriff Margaret Neilson cleared Poole of abducting his 41-year-old victim and confining him in his bedroom by jamming a brush under the handle of his room at the small Golf View Road home in Inverness on August 15, 2012.
Poole was suspended and later sacked from his job after three years working with the Richmond Fellowship, an organisation which supports people with autism and mental health problems.
Poole’s report on the incident failed to give managers details of him, pulling the resident by the leg along the carpet and locking him in his room, leaving him shouting and banging on the door.
Poole lodged special defences of self defence and necessity, and told the court: “Maybe if I had proper training I would have done it in a different manner.
“But I will not work in the care sector again. I have had enough.”
He told the trial he had no alternative but to take the action he did because he feared the resident was going to “flip.”
He claimed the man had a history of violence against other residents and staff and had previously broken the nose of an employee, slapped Poole in the face, damaged his car, fought with other residents and thrown knives in a restaurant.
The former construction worker rejected fiscal Stewart MacIver’s suggestion that there were other options open to him.
“You could have tried to talk him down, seek assistance from other staff or sought advice. You snapped and jumped the gun?”
Poole replied: “I did not snap and I didn’t jump the gun. I had to get him into his room quickly before he kicked off. I knew his trigger points.”
Poole, of 57 Ferrybrae, North Kessock, added: “It was the best thing for everybody involved. I regret it now with hindsight, given the repercussions, but faced with the same situation again, I would do it again.”
His defence agent, solicitor Marc Dickson, told Sheriff Neilson in his summing-up: “For an assault, there has to be evil intent and there is no evidence of that.
“He acted out of necessity to protect other service users, other staff and himself.”
The trial heard that Poole’s victim was sitting for 75 minutes on the kitchen floor, naked apart from a towel, refusing to dress or go to his room. He was waiting for his favourite clothes to dry.
An earlier witness, support worker Penny Deverell, 31, said she was “shocked” by the incident and said what Poole did was “completely inappropriate”.
Ms Deverell said: “After that I saw Les come down the hall dragging the man, who was still sitting cross-legged against the ground. I later noticed he had a raw, bloody carpet burn on his left elbow.
“I don’t think Les is a bad person, I think he made an error in judgment.”
Poole, who left the court without commenting, will appear in court for sentence on August 7.