Carer who took 'demeaning' videos of dementia patients sentenced

28-year-old Ciara Corvan has been handed a sentence of two years probation and 100 hours community service

Families have said their grieving process was made more difficult after a senior nursing assistant took and shared videos of patients with advanced dementia.

Ciara Corvan was sentenced to two years probation and 100 hours community service.

In May of this year Corvan pleaded guilty to seven charges against four victims.

The court heard these included a video of a patient in the bath, another of a patient in bed and another with her nose almost touching one of the patients.

On Monday, Judge Patrick McGurgan said that, although the offending was not physical in nature, it was a "serious breach of trust".

"Each family who placed a love one in care as a last resort expects them to be treated with respect and dignity," he said.

Handing down a sentence of two years probation and 100 hours community service for seven counts of ill treatments of patients under the Mental Health Order (NI) 1986.

"It was demeaning to those you owed a duty of care to. I do not expect you were naive in this matter. The public must have confidence in those who provide care," he said.

Outside the court, Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) Det Ch Insp Claire McDonald said: "Corvan exploited their vulnerabilities, specifically their lack of capacity and communication for her own entertainment.

"Today her actions are proven criminal, in the first case of its kind for Northern Ireland."

The PSNI said it is using this sentencing as an example for people in positions of trust with vulnerable people to be deterred from ever taking advantage of someone in their care this way.

Shirley Adamson and Tanya Jennings reading out a statement from families outside court alongside Det Ch Insp McDonald

"She (Corvan) sought entertainment in humiliating those who were being tormented every day through the slow and cruel loss of their ability to do even the most basic personal tasks," the statement said.

"We are saddened by the seemingly lack of morals in this social media generation and hope that this sentencing today makes people stop and think about their conduct online and how they treat people," it said.

"Please stop and think – if that was your mother or father, how would you want them to be treated?"

In a statement, a Southern Trust spokesperson said the organisation was "deeply sorry for the actions of an employee" and fully recognised "the distress this situation caused".

They said patient safety remained the "highest priority" and that all staff were expected "to alway