OTTAWA, Canada (WSVN) — The family of an elderly man with dementia released disturbing video that showed a nursing home employee repeatedly punching the patient.
Relatives of 89-year-old Georges Karam installed a video camera in his room at a long-term care center in Ottawa, Canada, after they said he suffered multiple, unexplained injuries.
“It was gut-wrenching,” the man’s grandson, Daniel Nassrallah, told Inside Edition. “Literally, my legs collapsed” after viewing the footage, he said.
Nassrallah said they questioned the facility about the numerous bruises and cuts on their loved one’s body, but never got any answers about the injuries. Because his grandfather is non-verbal, Nassrallah installed a camera on the wall facing Karam’s bed. He said they got the center’s permission to install the camera, and staff was told about the device.
Several weeks later, Nassrallah said he and his wife reviewed the footage from his grandfather’s room and spotted employee Jie Xiao acting aggressively.
“He threw him around the bed,” Nassrallah said. “My grandfather started to flail and tried to bat him away. Then he started punching my grandfather in the head.”
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The video shows Xiao hitting Karam 11 times.
Nassrallah told Inside Edition he immediately called police and headed to the nursing home with his brothers. He used his cell phone to show officers the video from his grandfather’s room, which led to police arresting Xiao at the center.
Xiao was fired from the facility, and pleaded guilty to one count of assault. He is out on bail as he awaits his sentencing hearing.
Police are now investigating whether other patients were harmed at the center.
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