Welcome To The Gibraltar Local Disability Movement
The Allegations Extracted From Witness Statements On The Allegations Of Abuse At The Dr Giraldi Home Can Now Be Seen
Brief On Allegations
Contents and information released to the International Media, copies of which are freely available, have been added on this site.
It needs to be emphasized that the statements were made by witnesses in support of Joanna Hernandez in her Disciplinary Case and not by her.
The allegations refer to specific events and to the general state of affairs in the Agency, which she sought to improve and complained about to senior management and the Agency Board. Their widespread nature, involving matters of management and policy, all indicate to a desperate need for an independent public enquiry into the general workings of the Home and the allegations themselves.
We invite you to view the actual statements by clicking on its “Parts”; More Contents will be added as soon as we can
Brief on allegations extracted from witness statements – Unfair Dismissal Tribunal against the Social Services Agency made in 2006
Witness 1 - Parent of service user
1 Service user 1 – a 5 year old boy had challenging behaviour. The response was that carers screamed at him until the child became so frightened that he hid behind an armchair. Alleged this happened regularly. Incident reported to the Minister who said a complaint would not be considered unless it came from the child’s parents.
2. Service User 2 - Parent making statement claims food bought for resident child would disappear from the fridge without him having eaten it.
3 Claimed that her child was not given a shower every day and that hygiene was very poor and that his notes showed this. Reported and no action taken.
4 Claimed that carer who should have taken her child out instead took him home in a car not adapted for disability. Had accident and child grazed his back.
5 Claimed child punished for challenging behaviour by being kept locked in his bedroom with the lights turned out and kept in the dark.
6 Claimed many instances of negligence in issuing medication with over and under medication happening.
Part-1 Part-2 Part-3 Part-4 Part-5 Part-6 Part-7 Part-8 Part-9
Witness 2 – Parent
1. Service User 3 - Child was made to sit on bidet filled with very hot water, sustained severe burns on buttocks. She was forcibly held down when she wanted to get up as she was burning herself. The blister on the buttocks took several weeks to heal. Never found out who was responsible or when or why it happened.
Witness 3 – Parent
1. Service User 4 - Son was given medication twice on two consecutive shifts and fell as a result of being over-drugged and had stitches to his chin.
2. Next day fell again and sustained head injury.
3. On another occasion no medication given even though needed to control fits because according to carer her child was not willing to take it.
Witness 4 - Employee
1. Service User 5 - 3 staff members went on a train trip to Lourdes and were involved in sexual activities in the presence of a service user on the train.
2. 1 male staff member pinned a female staff member against the kitchen wall. The witness giving this statement was then attacked when she intervened. The male employee apparently drunk or drugged or both. Given a written warning.
3. Service User 6 - The same employee almost overdosed a service user on Ritalin because he was so drunk that he misread the drugs sheet on another occasion.
4. On different occasion Ritalin tablets were missing alleged to have a street value of £35 each. CID came but no action was taken. 15 tablets were missing over a period of a couple of months.
5. Service User 7 - Service user found with head injuries by witness, other employee on duty did nothing. Also the same service user was lethargic and had not eaten or drank all day.
6. Service User 8 - Service user given 2 x 200 Epelin tablets instead of 2 x 100. Employee giving dosage claimed he had made mistake over the tablets even though they are of different colours, the 200 blue and the 100 white.
7. Service User 9 - Staff supposed to take out, under supervision, a 9 year old service user were seen chatting with friends in a local pub whilst the 9 year old was running around unsupervised.
8. Service User 10 - Epileptic service user was taken off medication by manager without the advice of the doctor simply because it was some time since he’d had a fit.
Witness 5 - Employee
1. Allegations that medicines were given out and not signed for. Sometime put in the wrong boxes and given to the wrong people.
2. Allegation with detailed account of Valium gone missing. Searched for by several employees who failed to locate it. Then person in charge claimed to have found it in medicine cupboard which was locked and had not been opened. No investigation took place. Incident admitted in Parliament, government excused this, since it was found it doesn’t matter.
Part-1 Part-2 Part-3 Part-4 Part-5 Part-6 Part-7 Part-8 Part-9 Part-10
Witness 6 - Relative
1. Service User 11 - Relative claims user was put in punishment room and kept 1 hour with arms outstretched and piles of books on both hands, for shouting and screaming.
2. On another occasion the punishment they made service user suffer was that the put his head in the freezer to stop him shouting.
3. A third form of punishment was to make him have to take cold showers.
4. The child had bruises on the arms and bite marks and was seen by the paediatrician who thought it was the child’s mother that was responsible. However when it was discovered that the child was in the care of the Agency the matter was taken no further and nothing was done.
5. On 2 other occasions this child suffered a broken leg and a black eye and no explanation was given to the relatives as to how this had happened. No action was apparently taken against anybody.
Witness 7 - Employee
1. Employee on night duty left flat whilst service user was very upset and banging his bedroom door. Was away all night from 11pm to 6am. Reported to management, no action taken.
2. Another employee brought female friend to flat, not an employee, asked witness to leave him alone with female visitor.
3. The same employee on another occasion arrived at flat at 7am. Looking drunk took clothes off and went to sleep on settee. At 9am manager came and told employee he could not work in the state he was in. He shouted abuse at her and left. Nothing was done in respect of the incident.
4. In the above incident the witness states that she was not present but was told by 2 other employees that the person concerned had been put into bed from the settee where a service user was sleeping at that time and the 2 other persons that took him there had dragged the service user out of the bed to put the drunken employee in it.
5. In addition it is alleged that the service employee who took the above action also found cocaine on the settee that the drunken/drugged employee had left when moved into the bed and had disposed of it by flushing it down the toilet.
6. The employee in question was also said to have jumped on the kitchen tops and shouted abuse at other employees using offensive language. No disciplinary measures were taken in any of the above incidents with the employee.
Part-1 Part-2 Part-3 Part-4 Part-5
Witness 8- Relative
1. Service User 12 - Witness claims that female service user was sexually abused for the entertainment of employee who encouraged male service user to kiss and cuddle her whilst on night duty. The employee would signal the male service user and the latter would approach the female service user and hug, kiss and touch her legs, walk into her bedroom unannounced, on occasions when she was changing in her underwear. This was a regular event not an isolated incident.
2. Service User 13 - It also happened to another female service user when the same employee told the same male user to throw himself on top of the female in bed resulting in the female being very upset and screaming.
3. The relative’s female service user went on a cruise with a number of employees and when she went ashore and she got tired because of her disabilities, they left her behind on the ship with one of the crew members, who was a cabin cleaner, to look after her.
4. When the female service user told the relative of the things that were being done to her, she was afterwards kept in her room told she had been a bad person and employees would walks past her and ignore her, she was punished for speaking up by being sent to Coventry.
5. The witness claims the Agency was fully aware of what was going on and frustrated every attempt to investigate matters, including refusing to provide information to the relative.
Part-1 Part-2 Part-3 Part-4 Part-5 Part-6
/Statement-29-03-06(2)%20pg9.jpg){kind=link}
