Man appears in court after 87yo allegedly attacked at aged care centre

WARNING: Graphic images

A man accused of assaulting an elderly dementia patient at a care facility in Sydney’s southwest has appeared in court for the first time.

Disturbing images of the 87-year-old man reveal the extent of the horrific injuries to his face, which is bloodied and bruised and depicts blood pouring from an ear.

The alleged incident happened in the garden area of Hammond Care’s Linden Cottage at Hammondville about 9pm on Wednesday.

Another resident at the care centre, 69-year-old Geoffrey Innes was arrested and charged with assault occasioning actual bodily harm (DV).

He was taken to hospital, under police guard.

His matter was mentioned before Liverpool Local Court on Friday, where he was granted strict conditional bail to reside at home.

He will next appear in court on 21 July.

Speaking to 2GB’s Ben Fordham on Friday, Hammond Care executive general manager Jenny Somerton said she was “deeply saddened” by the alleged attack.

“We never want to see any of our residents in any kind of harm or in any state in any way and that was really distressing, not just to me but to all of our staff involved as well,” she said.

She said the facility catered to patients with “extreme and severe behaviours and psychological symptoms of dementia”.

She said the patients were all supervised by staff and “different monitoring systems”,

“We have people with extreme behaviours and unfortunately, things can happen and triggers can happen with different people which can exacerbate different behaviours while we’re supporting them,” she said.

The 87-year-old’s daughter, Margaret, then joined the call and asked about the safeguards used at the facility on the day of the alleged attack.

Despite implementing security systems to prevent incidents, Ms Somerton said she could not discuss any further details.

“We are reviewing all of our monitoring systems so that we can then really understand truly what actually happened on the night,” she said.

Ms Somerton said the care facility was not understaffed at the time of the incident.

“At the moment we meet all of our requirements,” she said.

When asked if Margaret was “satisfied” with the manager’s apology, she said: “No. Absolutely not.”

On Wednesday Margaret told 2GB a staff member told her that her father was found bloodied on a veranda after an altercation with another resident.

“They wanted to send him to the hospital and told mum, ‘No need to come, we’re going to put him in the ambulance’,” she said.

“My mother, who’s 85, insisted that they wait until she arrived to join my father in the ambulance. Dad has dementia.

“Mum arrived and of course she was shocked to see the state of my father.

“She joined him in the ambulance and was taken to the Liverpool Hospital, where he still remained in the emergency room being treated.”

A police spokesman said inquiries were under way into the alleged assault of a man at an aged-care facility in Sydney’s southwest.

A crime scene has been established at the facility, where detectives and forensic officers are examining the scene.

“Officers attached to Liverpool City Police Area Command commenced an investigation after receiving a report that an 87-year-old man was found with facial injuries at the Hammondville facility about 9pm Wednesday,” NSW Police said in a statement.

“The man was taken to Liverpool Hospital suffering head and facial injuries.

“Police are working with staff at the facility.”

Hammond Care has been contacted for comment.