Rotherham day care centre boss 'assaulted and bullied' users
- Published
Barbara Sykes and Julie Paul-Slack are on trial at Sheffield Crown Court
The manager of a day care centre for people with learning difficulties pulled a woman off a chair and dragged her along the floor, a court heard.
A second user allegedly broke his nose after falling over as Barbara Sykes "frog-marched" him at the Reach Day Centre in Rotherham, Sheffield Crown Court was told.
Mrs Sykes is accused of assaulting and bullying users.
The 64 year old, from Rotherham, denies 11 charges of neglect or ill-treatment.
A second defendant, Julie Paul-Slack, 56, from Rotherham, who was the assistant manager of the centre, is charged with one count of ill treatment and one count of wilful neglect. She denies the offences.
The centre, based at the Elliott Centre, in Badsley Moor Lane, provides care for people with a range of conditions, including cerebral palsy, autism and Asperger's.
The offences are said to have taken place between June 2011 and October 2017.
Prosecutor Tom Storey said: "During the period when these two defendants worked at the Elliott Centre, the prosecution say that they either ill-treated or neglected a number of the vulnerable service users who were in their care."
'Records destroyed'
The barrister said as well as allegations of physical assaults Mrs Sykes also shouted at service users, withheld meals and, on one occasion, left a man outside in bad weather without a coat.
He said when a police investigation began officers found some records relating to service users were missing.
Janine Moorcroft, the then head of Rotherham Council's adult care department, told jurors the allegations had come as a "huge shock".
She said she had been told about Mrs Sykes's alleged behaviour during a meeting with a member of staff in October 2017.
She told the court during the meeting the employee raised concerns about "records they had been told to go an destroy" by Mrs Sykes and said she had been "scared" to speak out against her manager for fear there may be "repercussions".
The trial continues.
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