AN 85-YEAR-OLD woman residing in a Dalgety Bay care home and suffering from dementia was assaulted by a worker there.

Care worker William Guy lost his temper after the woman lashed out at a colleague.

Guy, 58, of Fairykirk Road, Rosyth, appeared in the dock at Dunfermline Sheriff Court.

He admitted that on August 23, at Link Road, Dalgety Bay, he assaulted a woman, then aged 85, by slapping her on the hand.

Depute fiscal Dev Kapadia said Guy had been a care worker at the facility for two-and-a-half years when the incident occurred.

The woman involved had advanced dementia and needed assistance with the most basic of tasks, he added.

At 6am, the woman was being helped to the toilet by Guy and a female colleague.

The resident became agitated and lashed out, hitting the female worker on the arm.

Guy responded to this by slapping the resident hard on the back of the hand.

“His colleague thought what he did was excessive and inappropriate,” added the depute.

The matter was reported to the manager. Following the incident, Guy had told another colleague that he had “slapped her because she punched (his colleague).”

He then commented: “Oh well, it’s done now.”

Defence solicitor Chris Sneddon said his client had lost his job because of the incident and was now unemployed.

He went on: “The complainer lashed out at a co-worker. He should have walked away, not slapped her hand. He regrets his actions.”

Sheriff Alastair Brown said: “Society expects care workers to behave with restraint at all times. Care workers have a difficult job and sometimes their patience will be strained. We expect them to rise above that and clearly this was an assault.”

However, the sheriff admonished Guy, saying he had already been punished with the loss of his job and the fact he cannot now work in the care sector.