NSW woman spared jail over elderly assault

A Sydney nursing assistant who repeatedly slapped an 85-year-old dementia patient and hit her in the face with her own bathroom rubbish has been spared jail.

Dana Maree Gray, 59, was in August sentenced to 17 months' imprisonment with a six-month non-parole period for assaulting the "entirely dependent" woman while working at The Poplars nursing home in North Epping in August 2017.

However, at Burwood Local Court on Thursday, magistrate Robyn Denes ordered Gray serve the sentence by way of home detention.

Gray had worked in the dementia unit of the home since December 2013 when she walked into the "vulnerable" woman's bedroom and unleashed the "domestic violence" attack, Ms Denes said upon sentencing last month.

The magistrate condemned Gray's abuse of her "position of trust" and the way her offending came to light.

Footage of the assault, tendered in court, was shot on a GoPro camera hidden by a colleague of Gray's who feared for the residents' safety.

It shows Gray raising the woman's bed to chest height so she can't sit or lay down, aggressively pulling off her clothes, slapping her repeatedly and grabbing her hair before hitting her twice in the face with a bag of rubbish.

Ms Denes refused in June to hear the matter under the Mental Health Act and Gray was also deemed "unsuitable" to serve any sentence via community service due to an arm disability.

Her home detention sentence expires on February 19, 2020.

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NSW woman spared jail over elderly assault