Care worker convicted of assault

A former care worker has been convicted and fined €500 for kicking an autistic man in the back as he tried to separate him and another resident involved in a fight.

Judge Aeneas McCarthy imposed the fine on David Atkinson, aged 41, of 19 Thornton Park, Whitegate, Co Cork, who was convicted of assaulting Joseph Duane at the Cope Foundation in Montenotte, Cork, on October 22, 2013.

Judge McCarthy said: “These residents in this unit were extremely vulnerable. [The defendant’s] job was to look after them. They were in his care. There is no doubt there was a physical confrontation between two of the individuals in this unit.