A CARE assistant was yesterday cleared of slapping an elderly woman she was helping to dress at a residential home.
Linda Hope, 26, denied assaulting the 96-year-old dimentia sufferer, causing her actual bodily harm, in an incident in the woman's room at Castle Bank Residential Home in Tow Law, County Durham, last October.
Miss Hope, of Alpine Way, Tow Law, was said to have lost her patience with the woman.
It was alleged that the resident struck out at her and in response Miss Hope slapped her once in the face, causing bruising to her cheek and under her eye.
Miss Hope told Durham Crown Court that she shouted in frustration when the women lashed out, scratching her in the head, but she denied having ever slapped any resident.
Following a three-day hearing a jury yesterday returned a unanimous not guilty verdict.
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