AN ENNISKILLEN man has been convicted of a charge of ill-treating a patient who was under his care in a care facility in the town in April 2024.
Bibin Matthew (40), of Derrin Road, appeared before Enniskillen Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday (January 21) to contest the charge, during a hearing which ran for four hours.
The court heard from a witness, who gave a detailed account of working with Matthew on a shift at the County Care Home in April 2024.
Talking about the night in question, the witness claimed that they were putting a patient to bed and he ‘seemed unsettled and aggressive’.
The witness claimed that the patient ‘made an elbow movement’ and she was hit in her stomach, with Matthew ‘punching the patient on the cheek’ in an immediate reaction.
It was alleged that Matthew said he ‘didn’t like the patient hitting her’.
The witness said that she didn’t report the incident at the time because Matthew had made a number of threats to her, which included a threat to ‘defame her in the community’.
In a cross-examination, the witness acknowledged she had met with Matthew in her apartment outside of work, claiming he tried to ‘force her into a physical relationship’.
There was then a long debate over a behaviour record check which had to be signed, with the witnesses claiming she ‘wasn’t aware’ that the document had to be signed in that unit.
The witness later agreed that she didn’t report the incident occurred until May.
A second witness, who was a nurse who was on duty the morning after the incident occurred, reported that she was made aware of a ‘dark bruise’ on the man’s face.
The woman said she ‘didn’t know what had caused it’, summarising it could have been a barrier at the side of his bed. She said in court the ‘injury was extreme for that scenario’.
Two further witness statements were agreed, with one witness saying that the woman who had reported the incident appeared to be ‘stressed and tearful’ when recalling the events.
Taking to the stand, Matthew said that he was a ‘colleague and good friend’ of the witness, accepting that he had met with her ‘two or three times outside of work’.
He refuted any claims that he made any sexual advances towards the woman.
Matthew said that ‘nothing of note’ had happened on the date in question, adding that he ‘didn’t recall being in the room’ of the injured party with his colleague.
He said he ‘didn’t know why the injury occurred to the man’ and he denied that he made any threats towards the woman.
After reviewing the facts of the case, district judge Alana McSorley said that the evidence provided by the first witness was ‘plausible’, adding her ‘bravery was to be commended’.
She said that Matthew would be convicted of the charge, agreeing that sentencing would take place on March 4.
