A care worker who giggled while taunting and poking a helpless elderly woman with dementia today walked free from court.
Shocking videos showed Valentina Baghiu ignoring her victim's pleas to leave her alone and threatening her with a clenched fist.
Baghiu, 23, worked at Birch Tree Manor, in Port Sunlight, when she abused 83-year-old Elizabeth Ann Mernock, known as Ann.
Two clips revealed how Baghiu cackled, wriggled her fingers in the pensioner's face and said: "You'd think I'm playing with the cat."
Magistrates sent her case to Liverpool Crown Court because they felt their sentencing powers were insufficient, because they could only impose six months in jail.
But the judge, Recorder David O'Mahoney, who could have jailed Baghiu for up to five years, handed her six months in prison, suspended for 18 months.
That was after he was told "remorseful" Baghiu had a young son in Romania, who she supports financially, and is now pregnant.
A concerned colleague is thought to have secretly filmed Baghiu on her mobile phone on two dates between May and November 2019, when Mrs Mernock died.
Jonathan Duffy, prosecuting, said: "The defendant ill-treated Mrs Mernock by treating her in an unkind, in some cases threatening and demeaning way.
"She poked her, was seen to grab at her wrist on occasion and to treat her roughly, and in a way which constitutes abuse."
Some of the cruel remarks made by Baghiu to Mrs Mernock were in her native tongue, Romanian, but since translated into English.
In the first clip she was revealed to say "f*** you, you old bat" and "hell will become of you, I'll sweep you up, you're going to get it".
Baghiu added: "Watch out, you will see what a good plucking you're going to get tonight."
Mr Duffy said it showed Baghiu "seemingly waking up the victim, who was asleep in a chair in a public area of the care home" by "striking or poking her in her legs" with a brush she was using to sweep the floor.
In the second clip, Baghiu laughed as her defenceless victim repeatedly begged "get off me", "leave me alone" and "stop it".
Baghiu told her "look at me" and when Mrs Mernock tried to get out of her chair to escape, grabbed her wrist and pulled her back.
One translation of a comment made by Baghiu was said to be either "I'll mess you up like nothing else" or "I'll give you a few slaps over the head".
She also told the pensioner: "Don't scratch me or you will get f***ed up."
In the footage she could be seen poking her fingers at the woman's face, saying: "You would think I'm playing with the cat."
And while waving her clenched fist in her face, she threatened: "You are going to get it tonight, do you understand?"
Baghiu, formerly of Borough Road, Tranmere, admitted ill treating or wilfully neglecting a person lacking capacity.
Her abuse came to light in December 2019, when Wirral Adult Social Care Services received an email containing two video clips saying they were from the home and suggesting a carer there should not be working with vulnerable people.
The deputy manager identified Baghiu and stated Mrs Mernock was on 24-hour, one-to-one care because she was at high risk of falls and lacked capacity.
The victim's heartbroken daughter, Sarah Thomas, sat crying in the public gallery when the second clip was played, as Baghiu wiped tears from her eyes in the dock.
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In a victim statement, Mrs Thomas said she "felt sick to the pit of my stomach" when she found out what police were investigating.
Baghiu, who has no previous convictions and now lives in Warren Road, Warrington, was assisted by an interpreter.
Christopher McMaster, defending, accepted the case was "profoundly unpleasant and inexcusable", adding his client "did not offer any excuses".
He said Baghiu was in her early 20s, had "limited training, was inexperienced and at that time was working 12-hour shifts - sometimes working 29 days out of 31 in a month".
Mr McMaster added: "She was inexperienced, under trained and overworked."
He said Baghiu would no longer be able to work in the care sector and had a new job in a warehouse.
Mr McMaster said she provided financially for her five-year-old son in Romania and was expecting a second child in October.
Recorder O'Mahony said Baghiu's behaviour included "making silly noises, apparently taunting" Mrs Mernock.
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He said she accepted in a pre-sentence report that her behaviour was "inappropriate" and described feeling "awful".
The judge said: "You described using bad words and raising your voice as a coping mechanism at the time."
Recorder O'Mahony said the victim was "extremely vulnerable" but due to capacity issues, unlikely to complain.
He said: "You were in a position of significant trust. Your conduct was in essence a prolonged period of taunting, which was obviously distressing."
The judge said many of the comments were in a foreign language, but that wouldn't have prevented Mrs Mernock being affected.
However, he said the case didn't involve "deliberate physical assault", accepted Baghiu was remorseful and noted the fact she was pregnant and supports a young son, and said he had to consider conditions in prison during the pandemic.
The judge ordered her to carry out 75 hours of unpaid work and made a 15-day Rehabilitation Activity Requirement.
