Care worker gets maximum jail term for mistreating Co Antrim residents

A care worker convicted of ill-treating three mental health patients has been jailed for six months '“ the maximum sentence she faced.
The justice systemThe justice system
The justice system

Tracey Balantine, 29, was also told to pay £1,000 to each of her victims by district judge Paul Copeland at Antrim Magistrates Court on Tuesday.

Commending the care workers who reported her behaviour, he told Balantine that “the families will be outraged, and so should any right-thinking members of the public who placed their sick and afflicted loved ones into your care”.

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Balantine, of the Garden Village in Antrim, was initially taken to the cells, then freed on her own bail of £500 pending an appeal of the sentence.

At the end of her trial last month, Balantine was convicted of multiple counts of the ill-treatment or wilful neglect of a man and two women at the Broadacres Residential Unit in Templepatrick between December 31, 2016, and April 1 last year, and of common assault upon the man.

A prosecutor told the court the home housed adults “who required 24-hour care”.

Three of Balantine’s colleagues reported a “series of incidents” involving the three residents, aged 46, 52 and 55, and they were recounted in court by a prosecution lawyer.

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One said during a night shift they found the man “tied with straps to his wheelchair”, with the chair handles “wedged into the bed bars to stop him moving”.

Another incident concerned a woman being settled in her room at around 3am, during which time Balantine “put both hands on her shoulders, pushed her to the ground, and said ‘I can f****** push too’”. She also told residents to “shut the f*** up” and “get the f*** up”.

The common assault offence arose when the man walked down the hallway using handrails and Balantine, the court heard, came behind him, pushed her knee into the back of his knee causing him to fall, then told him to “get up you d*** head”.

Judge Copeland told Balantine responsible, compassionate and competent people are put in a position of trust to look after [care residents] and it’s no excuse to say that you find them challenging”.