A CARE worker has been jailed for a year after taking a disabled woman’s wheelchair – leaving her to crawl on the floor – and pressuring her to eat until she vomited.
Joanna De Mata Viana Martins (42) also shouted abuse at the 18-year-old and mimicked her voice, the Royal Court heard.
Crown Advocate Luke Sette, prosecuting, said that the disabled woman had cerebral palsy, epilepsy and a learning difficulty and required 24-hour care.
Crown Advocate Sette said that on the morning of 10 August 2022 the woman had been shouting and getting upset and the care worker who was with her phoned Martins to ask for help.
The witness described Martins and the disabled woman shouting and screaming at each other “for approximately half an hour” and explained that the defendant had then taken her wheelchair – which left the care worker “gobsmacked”. The disabled woman lay on her side and shuffled her way towards the kitchen, the court heard, before Martins nudged her with her own foot towards her bedroom.
Crown Advocate Sette said that the second incident took place on the evening of 5 September, when another care worker arrived to begin her shift and found Martins and the disabled woman having dinner.
The disabled woman said she was feeling sick and was going to vomit, but Martins threatened to take her to hospital if she stopped eating.
“She hated going to hospital, as it really stressed her,” Crown Advocate Sette explained. The disabled woman then vomited onto her plate, the court was told.
Martins continued to deny the allegations, claiming that the two witnesses had invented the events, but was found guilty of two counts of ill-treatment/wilful neglect following a three-day trial in February. She is the first person to be convicted under Jersey’s Capacity and Self-Determination Law.
Crown Advocate Sette recommended a one-year jail sentence.
Advocate Rui Tremoceiro, defending, said Martins denied all the allegations except the withholding of the woman’s wheelchair.
He explained: “She had been using the wheelchair erratically, and even ran over the defendant’s foot.
“She could and would crawl in other circumstances of her own free will.”
Addressing the shouting and screaming, he said: “The defendant was not mimicking or mocking the client. She was trying to show her what her behaviour looked like to others.”
And he added that the woman’s mother had given evidence at the trial and had “nothing negative to say about the defendant”.
Commissioner Alan Binnington said the Jurats were taking into account Martins’s previous good character and the letters of support praising her but said prison was unavoidable.
He told her: “As a team leader you had a duty to set an example, and you were far removed from that.”
The Jurats sitting were Jane Ronge and Steven Austin-Vautier.
Following the sentencing, investigating officer Detective Sergeant Martin Davies said: “This is an appalling crime. The charges encompassed deeply concerning behaviour.
“States of Jersey Police remain committed to protecting the rights and dignity of all individuals, especially the most vulnerable members of our community.”
