A mum whose son had his nose bitten off in a vicious attack has slammed the bosses of a homeless unit for letting his attacker stay in the facility whilst he was there – only for him to assault her son AGAIN.
The mum-of-three told us how she “collapsed” when she saw her eldest son laid up in hospital with a foot print on the side of his face and the septum of his nose ripped off.
Now the mother, who has asked for anonymity, has listed a host of failures at the specialist YPeople project in East Kilbride Village.
A registered senior care specialist who deals with homelessness herself, our source believes the facility “ is not fit for purpose”.
Second time around, thug Craig Chalmers bit a chunk out of her son’s finger, resulting in him having to be tested for HIV. That happened just three days after Chalmers was moved into the unit.
Speaking to the News, the mother said: “My son has been in and out of homeless units because of issues he has.
“About 18 months ago, the council decided it would be better for him to be in the YPeople project rather than Lindsay House, saying there was more support there for him.
“He called me one night and asked if he could come home, saying he couldn’t stay there. I asked why and he said it was because Chalmers was there.”
Chalmers was jailed in 2017 when he left his victim – who we have chosen not to name – needing multiple, and ongoing, reconstructive surgeries to his nose.
That included a number of skin grafts and repeat plastic surgery operations.
“I couldn’t believe it,” the victim’s mother told the News. “I had sent over all the information about Chalmers and the previous attack, and had briefed staff there.
“He should not have been in the unit when my son was there. Three days later Chalmers attacked him again, hitting him on the head with a brick and biting off part of his finger.
“I asked the staff why he was allowed to be there and what had happened – one worker piped-up and said, ‘we can’t decide who comes in and who doesn’t – he has every right to use the service’.
“So what about their duty of care to my son? Then a senior case officer told me my son was “an attention seeker” who didn’t didn’t like it if others got attention.
“It’s unbelievable. My son’s mental health has deteriorated badly since this and I blame the YPeople project for that.”
Bosses from the YPeople charity previously told the News they “would never ban” an individual from the unit, no matter their actions.
Instead, they implement a “cooling-off period” and ban access to certain privileges. But, as a homeless charity, they “would never turn their backs on anyone.”
Chalmers was jailed for 18-months for the attack. In August, he was locked up for a third time for biting after he tried to sink his teeth into a copper.
The 23-year-old was jailed for nine months for that offence which he committed whilst on early release from prison – he was again given early release from jail in September, just WEEKS after being sentenced.
He has since been taken back into custody on another matter.
Our source blasted the quality of staffing at the YPeople project and the processes in place, but a Care Inspectorate report from December 2018 rated this as ‘very good’.
Pauline Lunn from YPeople told us that staff are trained to the appropriate level, with continuous training and refresher courses.
The victim’s mother told us she thinks the facility should be moved out of the Village centre where there is “just too much temptation”.
