A CARER held a cup of tea over the head of an elderly bedbound woman with dementia and threatened to call the police if she failed to drink it, a court heard.

Zaria Bi and Farzana Bibi – both from Keighley – were the main carers for the woman, who received four visits during the day and one in the evening at her home in Sutton, Skipton magistrates heard on Friday.

Bi, 48, of Victoria Road, and Bibi, 41, of Goulbourne Street, had no formal qualifications and had just shadowed other carers before starting work.

They worked for a private care company looking after the woman during the day, while a separate company carried out the evening visits, said prosecutor Melanie Ibbotson.

Bi and Bibi had been caring for the woman for 18 months until her daughter became suspicious in October last year and installed a covert CCTV camera in her bedroom, said Ms Ibbotson.

Their regular routine was to spend 40 to 45 minutes with the woman, carrying out personal care, attending to her needs, feeding and moving her, and repositioning her from her bed to a chair using a hoist.

After viewing the CCTV footage, the woman’s daughter called the police. A member of social services described the two carers’ actions as “disgusting” and “shocking”, said Ms Ibbotson.

Bi was filmed waving her fist at the woman, putting her face right up to her face and shouting at her.

“In the CCTV footage, Bi places a cup of tea above the woman’s head and mocks her, threatening her that she will call the police if she does not drink the tea,” said Ms Ibbotson.

Also, Bibi is seen striking one of the woman’s arms and hands, while at other times the women are seen talking on their phones and ignoring their victim.

Bi admitted common assault and Bibi assault by beating. Both women were of previous good character and between them had seven children. They had both lost their jobs, and had not managed to find new employment, the court was told.

Mitigating for both defendants, Mrs Khan said the women had been immature and had not believed their actions were serious at the time. She said they had told her the tea would have been tepid, and that it was their way of “getting through their daily chores”.

Magistrates called for an all-options report to be prepared and adjourned sentencing to May 24. The defendants were given conditional bail.