Three carers who inflicted “horrendous” abuse on vulnerable adults in a London care home have been jailed for a minimum of 18 months.
Alex Nazareth, 30, Georgios Skordoulis, 28, and Ahmed Hassanen, 54, were all found guilty of ill-treatment after a four-week trial at Croydon Crown Court in October and were sentenced on Thursday, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said.
They committed their offences while employed as support workers at Grove House in Sutton, which provides residential care for service users with learning disabilities, mental illness and complex needs.
The court heard all three men sprayed water at one victim, locked him in a room, hit him, squeezed his genitals, dragged him, twisted his arms and threw away his belongings for no reason.
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Skordoulis and Hassanen were also found guilty of abusing a second victim by insulting him, throwing water over him, not allowing him food or to spend his own money, attacking him, ripping or damaging his clothes and possessions, and pushing and irritating him so that he could not sleep.
Thea Viney, the CPS’s London district crown prosecutor, said: “This is a really shocking example of a disability hate crime, involving the abuse of very vulnerable people with complex needs.
“The victims should have been able to trust and rely on Alex Nazareth, Georgios Skordoulis and Ahmed Hassanen to look after them and keep them safe from harm, but instead they were subjected to horrendous abuse, with evidence of emotional and psychological mistreatment.”
Nazareth was sentenced to 18 months behind bars while both Skordoulis and Hassanen were sentenced to two years’ imprisonment. All three men lived in Sutton.
Ms Viney added: “We worked in partnership with the police from an early stage to build a case that centred on the offenders’ behaviour and conduct, with key witness evidence proving that they were clearly acting contrary to training, protocols and the individual needs of each victim.
“There is no doubt that the victims in this case will have been caused significant distress, but I hope there will be a sense of justice for them, their families and the wider community following today’s sentence.”
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Lionel Idan, chief crown prosecutor for London South and CPS hate crime lead, said the three had committed hate crimes and their punishment was in accordance.
“Hate crime directed at people with disabilities is abhorrent and we recognise the wider corrosive impact they have on our communities,” he said.
“Our commitment to tackling disability hate crime remains unwavering and there is more that needs to be done to bring such offenders to justice.”
