14 March 2024 , 10:12
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Three hospital security guards beat up a suicidal patient in a "prolonged" and "shocking" attack which took place for an hour.
Supervisor Abdul Saleem, Darling Owa, and Benjamin Monese, battered the vulnerable man at North Manchester General Hospital. The twisted attack happened after the victim was rushed to the hospital after taking an overdose.
He was seen in a cubicle by medical staff before he was left alone with four security guards after he had become "difficult to manage". Manchester Crown Court heard that they were called after he kept getting out of bed.
The three guards bashed him over the head 46 times, slapped him, unnecessarily held him in restraint positions, and bent his toe backwards. Saleem, 36, from Trafford, and Owa, 55, from Chadderton, Oldham, were taken to court after their own body cameras captured the frightening attack.
Abdul Saleem was promoted to supervisor shortly before the attack took place (MEN Media)They both pleaded guilty to assaulting the 43-year-old and have since lost their jobs at the Crumpsall hospital. Whilst Monese, 39, from Farnworth, Bolton, was previously sentenced. It was reported that the fourth guard present was not charged, reports Manchester Evening News.
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Judge Kate Cornell said: “He should have been safe but instead he was subjected to prolonged and persistent abuse when he was vulnerable, and supposedly in a place of safety. He was not violent, and he was not particularly agitated. He didn’t need restraint.”
In the early hours of January 25 last year, the trio proceeded to assault him for about an hour, between 3am and 4am. “We will give you some f****** nice ones right, don’t take the f****** p*** out of us,” Saleem, their supervisor told him. Saleem hit the man over the head 20 times, whilst and Owa struck him 26 times.
After he was discharged, the victim said he was "covered in bruises" and complained to police. He said he remembered being assaulted but couldn’t identify the perpetrators due to his state at the time. Hospital bosses accessed the footage taken by guards’ body-worn cameras, which revealed the details of the attack.
The court heard that they were "concerned" that the incident may be caught on camera, and they had made efforts to turn off cameras which ultimately failed. The trio were prosecuted, with Saleem and Owa pleading guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm, and Monese to common assault.
The victim was rushed to North Manchester Hospital after an overdose (MEN Media)In a statement read on his behalf, the victim said: "I was taken to hospital because I had taken an overdose, because I wanted to kill myself." He said he had previously been an electrician and 'loved to work', but had to give up his employment due to mental health issues.
"The attack itself made me feel really vulnerable,” he added. "I was out of it and don't remember a lot of what happened but I do remember I couldn't do anything to defend myself.” He described that he "felt completely at the mercy of the security guards".
He added: "After the attack I was covered in bruises. I also had my toe bent back. This caused me agony for months, sometimes to the point where I couldn't walk. I'm also frightened of being in hospital since the attack. I feel I have lost all trust and confidence in people of positions of trust and authority. I think the people who did this to me need to be dealt with properly." The judge said that he has more recently seen an "improvement in himself" and now "feels positive for the future".
Defending Saleem, Laura Barbour said of the victim: “He and his family were entitled to expect that having arrived at the hospital, that would be a place of safety for him. That didn’t transpire. Mr Saleem and his colleagues hurt him, that is something that Mr Saleem can never undo. He recognises that that behaviour was entirely unacceptable, and he is wracked not just with remorse but with shame.”
She said he had been promoted to be a supervisor five months earlier and had a baby daughter at the time. He is the "sole breadwinner" for his wife and child as well as his parents and seven siblings, who all live in a three bedroom house, the court heard.
Defending Owa, Stephen Ferns said the defendant, a grandfather, was "shocked and horrified at his own actions" after seeing the footage. He submitted a letter of apology to the victim expressing how he is "extremely sorry for what has happened". Mr Ferns said: “He considered up to this point he had been helping people, he had been making a difference. As a result of his actions on the day he did completely the opposite.”
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Mr Ferns said Owa, who had worked at the hospital for 12 years, had been assaulted by patients previously. “He never reacted adversely,” he said. “It is very much out of character.” Lawyers for both defendants appealed for them to be spared jail. The judge said there was "no question" that the custody threshold had been passed.
But she said that a custodial sentence would be a "disproportionate" sentence for Saleem, and added that the loss of their jobs and good name was "significant punishment in itself" for both defendants. The pair were instead both handed 18 month community orders, and ordered to complete 250 hours of unpaid work and rehabilitation activity requirement days with the probation service.
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