Scotland jury convicts Pinoy nurse for hurting elderly patients

A Filipino nurse accused of abusing and humiliating dementia patients at an Edinburgh care home has been found guilty and given a jail term of 15 months. Jefferey Ednalan, 34, is also facing deportation to the Philippines after serving his sentence for a host of complaints of abuse on a number of elderly residents at Colinton Care Home during his five months there, Scotland’s online Scotsman news reported on Thursday. A trial earlier this year heard how his assaults included stuffing a deodorant can in the mouth of a 95-year-old man to stop him shouting. He was also convicted of two counts of indecent assault, including one on an 86-year-old woman. Ednalan had denied all the charges and insisted his fellow workers had made up the allegations out of jealousy at his senior position. The nurse, who has a nine-year-old daughter, broke down in tears when the verdict was read. A fellow Filipino, Ernesto An, 37, who works as care assistant at the home for the elderly, testified before a jury against Ednalan. The 95-year-old patient, who had since died, moaned and looked scared when Ednalan stuffed his mouth with the aerosol canister, an earlier report in the Edinburgh Evening News said. Another victim had died since Ednalan, who lived on Cowan Road, Edinburgh, was charged by police in April last year. An described Ednalan before the jury as "outgoing and jolly" while working as an adaptational nurse at Colinton. But then his attitude allegedly changed after he was promoted to a full nurse and he began to think he was "untouchable". An said: "He played with the residents - it became an amusement for him." In another incident, An testified that Ednalan grabbed a 76-year-old woman’s leg, which she complained was stiff and couldn’t bend, then pulled her down a corridor in a wheelchair. The report said Ednalan had denied seven charges of assaulting four elderly patients between December 2005 and March 2006. Apart from physical abuse, Ednalan was also accused of holding the naked breast of two women and touched one of them indecently. Ednalan likewise denied the allegation of maltreating seven women by failing to change soiled incontinence pads and clothes, and failing to bathe them regularly between October 2005 and March 2006. The United Kingdom is host to thousands of Filipino nurses, most have been known for their diligence, industry and compassion. During the trial, the Scotsman online said Ednalan told the court: "I am not a terror person, I would never do that. I was never superior to them." But a jury rejected his version and found the father-of-one guilty of five of the eight charges against him. Sheriff Mhairi Stephen, after sentencing Ednalan to suffer 15 months in jail, said: "The victims form the most vulnerable sector of society. These are people who don't know or remember events, who can register fear and react but can do nothing about it. Your cruelty exploited a special relationship of trust and care between nurse and the people in their care." Ednalan, who has been in the UK since 1995, was dismissed from his job at the care home last May after the police investigation into his conduct. All of the victims suffered from dementia at the time of the attacks and none was fit enough to give evidence during the trial. - GMANews.TV