A care worker held a towel over the face of a disabled resident to stop him from spitting on her.
But a colleague of 55-year-old Christine Grant reported her to management of a care centre in Nairn and she was sacked before being charged by police with assault.
Grant, of Culduthel Park, Inverness, appeared at the city’s Sheriff Court on Thursday before Sheriff Gary Aitken and told him: “I deserve to be punished, I will never work in the care sector again. I have never been in trouble before. If I could change things, I would.
“But please don’t send me to prison. I will lose everything. I have already lost my job and livelihood. I have worked in the sector since 1996.”
She admitted the assault committed on September 3 last year and sentence had been deferred for a background report.
Fiscal depute Niall Macdonald told the court the resident had a brain injury and “complex needs”.
He said that Grant and a colleague were washing the resident who was “directing verbal vitriol at both of them and some spit was emitted”.
He added that the resident was returned to bed when she “picked up a bath towel, scrunched it up and put it over his face. She said it was to stop him spitting on her.
“She held it on his face for five to six seconds. Her co-worker was shocked and reported it. She was summarily sacked for gross misconduct. When she was interviewed by police, she denied she was angry and had made a wrong decision.”
Grant was ordered by Sheriff Aitken to carry out 80 hours of unpaid work as an alternative to a fine because of her limited means.
