A CARE worker left a man who has serious learning difficulties with marks around his neck when she dragged him along the floor.

Daniella Boahemaa-Afrite grabbed the man who is in his 30s, is deaf and unable to speak, and also has Down's syndrome, by the neck of his T-shirt during the incident.

And the 20-year-old carer pulled him along the floor after losing her patience with him at Ballards Ash Farm House, on the edge of Royal Wootton Bassett.

Boahemaa-Afrite, who denied any wrongdoing, worked as a bank carer for Choice Care Group, which runs the home for adults with severe learning difficulties.

A senior social worker at the home told an appeal hearing at Swindon Crown Court how she saw the incident take place at about 8pm in June last year.

The man is notorious for trying to get at the food and drink in the kitchen, but needs to be supervised in there for his own safety, the court heard.

Although it was not uncommon for him to get on all fours in the corridor, other carers said they would just stand between him and the doorway.

Emily Snook said she came out of an office and saw Boahemaa-Afrite standing over the man, who was on his hands and knees in the corridor.

She said she was about six feet away and, seeing what was happening, shouted at the carer to stop.

When she didn’t immediately desist she said she shouted again and she let go of the man, who she said was clearly distressed.

Giving evidence she told the court “I could see Daniella towering over Mr F and she had hold of his clothing by the collar and back and she was dragging him.

“Daniella was dragging him, he was sliding. The floor is laminate so his hands were screeching.”

Miss Snook said that Mr F was hitting himself and vocalising loudly, which she said he did when he was distressed.

“He had red round the top of his neck where the T-shirt had obviously cut into his skin,” she said.

“I explained what she did was wholly inappropriate, what she did amounted to abuse of the service user. I was quite angry.

“She was smirking at me the whole time. I think when we finished our conversation she realised what she did was wrong.”

Scott Marshall, who was in the kitchen, said he didn’t see the incident but heard Miss Snook saying ‘That is not how we handle ourselves’.

He said he also saw the red mark on Mr F's neck, which was not there ten minutes earlier when he carried out a check.

Boahemaa-Afrite, of Cheney Manor Road, Swindon,pleaded not guilty to common assault and a charge of ill-treating a man lacking mental capacity when a carer.

She claimed that she was not pulling Mr F and that her colleagues had misunderstood what had happened.

But as well as magistrates convicting her of both matters in February, she was also found guilty by a judge, sitting with two justices, at an appeal.

She has been ordered to do 60 hours of unpaid work and pay a total of £200 in costs for the two hearings and an £80 victim surcharge.

Recorder Howard Palmer QC said: "I want to say how impressed we have been with the conduct of this care home and we accept that this was a one-off event which was not something that was in any way a lack of care in this home.

"And as far as this appellant was concerned it was a moment of impatience which has no doubt led to these long and drawn out proceedings."