Owen Mor: Man jailed over ill-treatment of patients

The court heard the offences occurred between September 2019 and December 2020.

A senior care assistant has been jailed for nine months for ill-treating patients at a nursing home in Londonderry.

Shaun Lynch, 54, of Ballybegley, Newtowncunningham in County Donegal, was sentenced at Londonderry Crown Court on Thursday.

He admitted seven charges of ill-treating six patients between September 2019 and December 2020.

Judge Neil Rafferty said he had been "highly aggressive" on some occasions.

But the judge said Lynch had carried out the ill-treatment by "rough handling" rather than wilful neglect.

He had "dragged" one patient around the bedroom, pulled another along a corridor for 14 metres, held patients by the wrists and - in one case - refused to allow a resident to go to the toilet, the judge said.

The patients, who cannot be named, included five men and one woman.

The court was told that Owen Mor nursing home on the Culmore Road in Derry deals with residents who are elderly and often at various stages of dementia.

Prosecutor Gary McCrudden told the court that Lynch had initially denied all the charges against him.

But he changed his pleas to "guilty" in October 2023.

'There are consequences'

Before jailing Lynch, Judge Rafferty referred to victim impact statements from the families of Lynch's patients.

One victim's brother said he had been assaulted "by a person in a position of trust - someone he trusted and someone who society trusted".

The judge said Lynch had been guilty of a "significant breach of trust" over a period of a year, but he was satisfied he would never work in a care home again.

Jailing him for nine months, Judge Rafferty told Lynch: "Those who engage in ill-treatment must understand that there are consequences.

He had been promoted "above his level of experience" due to the expansion of the care home where he worked, the judge said.

"Before this, you were completely blameless and of good character.

"That's what makes your actions all the more tragic."

Lynch's barrister, Brian McCartney KC, said his client had shown "genuine remorse and shame" for what he had done.

He came from a "highly-respected family" and the risk of re-offending was "low", the lawyer added.

Mr McCartney insisted that no physical harm had been caused to any of Lynch's patients.