Care home worker guilty of assaulting dementia resident

Betty Soriano Bunagan, 55, to be sentenced Jan. 20 for 2019 abuse

A resident care worker at Beach Grove Home in Charlottetown has been found guilty in provincial court of assaulting an elderly female resident with dementia.

"I do not believe the denial testimony of (Betty) Bunagan, nor after considering all of the evidence am I left with a reasonable doubt as to her guilt," said retired provincial court judge John Douglas, who returned in a part-time capacity to preside over the trial of Betty Soriano Bunagan, 55. Douglas delivered the guilty decision on Dec. 1.

At the Nov. 28 trial in provincial court in Charlottetown, Crown attorney Bridget Morriscey called Bunagan's co-worker, another RCW at Beach Grove Home and the complainant, to testify. The RCW told the court that in March 2019 in the afternoon, she was assisting Bunagan in the elderly female dementia resident's room.

She said Bunagan appeared to be impatient, annoyed and in a rush.

In the bathroom, the RCW and Bunagan were required

to be on each side of the elderly woman to lift out of a wheelchair and onto the toilet seat so she could be changed into her pyjamas.

But Bunagan grabbed the woman by her right arm first, and aggressively hauled her out of the wheelchair. As Bunagan tried to take off her T-shirt, the woman resisted. Bunagan slapped the woman in the face roughly 12 times and then shook her by the shoulders and pushed her back into the toilet tank, slightly dislodging the lid. Bunagan's hand was a few inches from the woman's face during the slaps on each cheek, which were hard enough to sting, said the RCW. Bunagan then said "listen to me"; although nothing was said or explained about the care being given.

The RCW did not intervene and "just froze," she testified, adding that the elderly woman looked terrified and didn't appear to know what was going on.

Bunagan left the room to get another staff member to help. When she returned, the RCW had already changed the woman into her pyjamas.

INCIDENTS REPORTED

The RCW said that she reported Bunagan's assault allegation along with six other alleged incidents of elder abuse by staff in a meeting with a nurse manager in April 2019. She also raised the seven incidents shortly after at a Q and A board meeting with a risk manager present.

She made the complaints verbally but did not complete or sign incident reports, and to the best of her knowledge, no investigations were done with her complaints.

No one in management, past and present, at Beach Grove Home was called to testify by either the Crown or by defence lawyer Derek Bondt.

As a result of making the complaints, the RCW said she experienced bullying and intimidation at work in the dementia unit.

The elderly victim died in 2021 — a few years after the assault.

Bunagan previously stood trial on an assault charge regarding another dementia patient at the care home in August. Chief Judge Jeff Lantz found Bunagan not guilty of the common assault charge on Sept. 7. The Crown attorney's office is currently appealing that decision in P.E.I. Supreme Court.

At that trial, it was noted that Bunagan has been an RCW at Beach Grove Home since 2005 and had no previous complaints on her record.

After hearing about those comments in court, the RCW phoned police near the end of August and reported the 2019 assault. She made the complaint to police prior to Lantz finding Bunagan not guilty.

ACCUSED DENIES THE ALLEGATIONS

Douglas said the RCW'S testimony at trial was credible, reliable, compelling and persuasive, and there was no evidence that she had a motive to fabricate the allegation.

Bunagan's testimony mostly involved repeatedly denying the assault allegation.

"It did not happen. I did not do that," she said. Bunagan said she didn't remember working any shifts with the RCW, but it was possible.

Douglas said Bunagan's testimony had inconsistencies and was not believable.

Douglas adjourned the matter to Jan. 20 for sentencing.

Bunagan did not have a prior criminal record.