Bulwell man behaved like a ‘monster’ when he assaulted vulnerable patient

Odeh Lamon had been working as a carer at Cedar Vale, an independent hospital in East Bridgford, for five months when the ‘gratuitous attack’ happened in November 2020, Nottingham Crown Court was told.

CCTV recorded him repeatedly striking the patient, who is non-verbal and suffers from bi-polar, autism and has a number of disabilities, with a plastic key coil and a plastic bottle.

Lamon put his hand on the patient’s head and pushed him away ‘again and again and again’, said Sally Hobson, prosecuting.

On one occasion he fell over and Lamon repeatedly pushed him.

The patient, who is ‘obsessed with moving chairs and leaning on people’, was ‘lured’ away when Lamon moved a chair into a doctor’s room where he slapped him with an open hand.

The court heard Lamon's victim lacked the ability to understand what was happening to him and it was wrong for the carer to assault him.

Judge Nirmal Shant KC, honorary Recorder of Nottingham, said it was ‘a gratuitous attack on a vulnerable victim’ that escalated over 15 minutes.

"There were witnesses and he must have been aware there was CCTV," she said.

"This is a sustained incident where he knows perfectly well his victim can't help himself."

When Lamon was interviewed by police he claimed he pushed his victim because he feared being headbutted.

Andrew Wesley, mitigating, said Lamon, of previous good character, was tearful when interviewed by probation.

"This was a demonstration of genuine remorse rather than regret at being caught,” he said.

“He knows all of his failings on this particular occasion and described himself as a monster.”

Mr Wesley said Lamon, originally from Nigeria, had ‘built a constructive life for himself’ since arriving in the UK 18 years ago.

He lost a subsequent job as a support worker with vulnerable young people when checks showed he was under investigation and he now works in security.

Lamon, now 47, of Cinder Hill Road, Bulwell, admitted the ill-treatment or wilful neglect of a patient lacking capacity, after initially denying the charge, at a previous hearing.

Judge Shant handed him a three-month prison sentence and barred him from working with vulnerable people.