Stenhousemuir care worker sees red and shouts and swears at vulnerable service user

Simon Rae, 37, was called away from another client to go and help one of his team deal with the tap issue and when things got heated he turned around and swore at the man, who had been blaming all his misfortunes on his care team.

Rae appeared at Falkirk Sheriff Court last Thursday having pleaded guilty to a breach of the peace – conducting himself in a disorderly manner, shouting and swearing at a man – at an address in Camelon on April 29 last year.

Rae was the supervisor in charge of a four-person care team helping a man with health issues and the offence was committed on a day when he was called away from what he was doing to help another carer who was looking after that particular client.

Procurator fiscal depute Mandy Jones said: “It was 12.30pm and the witness was attending at the address to help the client go shopping in Falkirk. They have returned to his home to find the kitchen tap was dripping.

"The witness tried to fix what was broken, but water started pouring out more quickly. The witness sought help from the accused, who was supporting another service user at the time.

"The accused arrived and tried to fix it. The client blamed his support workers for everything that goes wrong and the accused began shouting and swearing at the client.”

Martin Morrow, defence solicitor, said: “It’s all very unfortunate. What has happened here is Mr Rae has worked for the agency for four or five years and had worked with this client for that time.

"The client had difficulty with other agencies in the past. Mr Rae was in charge of people who were looking after him and he was a man who is difficult to deal with. On this particular day Mr Rae was working with someone else.

"It was a nice day out, they came back and somehow a tap explodes and there’s water all over the place. Mr Rae, who was doing something else, comes to try and help.

"He tries to fix things and doesn’t succeed – he has a lot of talents but he’s not an emergency plumber. The client just wants someone to fix his tap and he starts shouting and Mr Rae starts shouting and that’s how Mr Rae ends up here in court.

"He ought not to have shouted – all he set out to do was to try and help.”

Mr Morrow added Rae had lost his job with the care agency and was now employed in a “different field altogether”.

Sheriff Alison Michie said: “This is an incident that should not have happened. I note, however, the circumstances of it. Clearly you should not have behaved in the manner you did.”

She fined Rae, 5 Christie Terrace, Stenhousemuir, £335 to be paid back at £30 per week.