Care home worker admitted charge of theft of cash from resident
A care home worker who pleaded guilty to a charge of stealing £80 cash from a resident's bedroom has been ordered to do 120 hours of Community Service which a judge said was a "direct alternative to imprisonment".
Nikola Drozd, aged 20, whose address was listed as Roemill Road in Limavady, had been working at a residential home in the Rasharkin area, a court was told, when she took the money from a woman's purse on June 10 last year.
The defendant pleaded guilty to the theft.
A defence barrister told Ballymena Magistrates' Court on Thursday, June 12 that the defendant was taking a "pragmatic" approach to the charge after Drozd had initially claimed she had no intention to steal the money but instead had put it in a kitchen cabinet for "safe keeping".
The money was missing for "a couple of days" and when it was discovered, the cash was returned to the resident.
The court heard that the defendant said she had taken the money "to protect the victim" and that she had "put a sticker on it and then forgot about it".
The defendant, who had a previously clear record, is unemployed, but she hopes to start a paramedic course at university, the court was told.
District Judge Nigel Broderick outlined that it had been a "breach of trust" and that the defendant had been sacked.
He said the defendant had abused a position of trust with a "vulnerable victim" who was in a "supported living arrangement".